Contraceptive prevalence among women of reproductive age is related to maternal and child health, as well as gender equality and HIV/AIDS.   Contraceptives enable women and men to make informed decisions on family planning – whether, when, and how many children they would have. 

Preventing unwanted pregnancies is essential to reducing maternal deaths, especially in low- and middle- income countries where maternal mortality rate is high.  With effective contraception, life-threatening pregnancy complications can be reduced, and thus maternal deaths can be averted.  

Using condoms (one of the modern contraceptive methods) can prevent pregnancy as well as sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.
Contraceptive prevalence, any modern method (% of married women ages 15-49)
While the data availability on contraceptive use has increased, in many countries the contraceptive use data are available only for married women. 

The time frame used to assess contraceptive prevalence may vary. In many surveys, it is left to the respondent to determine what is meant by “currently using” a method of contraception.
Contraceptive prevalence, any modern method is the percentage of married women ages 15-49 who are practicing, or whose sexual partners are practicing, at least one modern method of contraception.  Modern methods of contraception include female and male sterilization, oral hormonal pills, the intra-uterine device (IUD), the male condom, injectables, the implant (including Norplant), vaginal barrier methods, the female condom and emergency contraception.
Contraceptive prevalence rates are obtained mainly from nationally representative household surveys, including: Demographic and Health Surveys; Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys; Contraceptive Prevalence Surveys; Gender and Generations Survey; Reproductive Health Surveys; and World Fertility Surveys.  Additional information was provided by other international survey programs and national surveys.  

Married women refer to women who are married (defined in relation to the marriage laws or customs of a country) and to women in a union, which refers to women living with their partner in the same household (also referred to as cohabiting unions, consensual unions, unmarried unions, or “living together”).