Access to contraception: a global survey.

Population Action International has identified 10 developing countries that have made the most progress since 1982 in giving their people access to contraception.

Strong political commitment appears to be a key factor underlying advances in Bolivia, Iran, Mongolia, and Oman, where new national programs

endorse the availability of contraceptives. High rankings for Botswana and Kenya reflect a consistent family-planning policy that is unusual for African countries. In Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, the growing demand for contraceptives among relatively wealthy and educated populations is being met by private as well as public sources; Venezuelan advances may also be due to increased private services. Turkey scored much higher than a decade ago.

Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Tunisia led all developing countries in access to contraceptives. At the other extreme were Mall, Mauritania, Laos, Chad, and the Congo, where couples have virtually no access to modern contraception and where maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world, according to the report.

Among developed countries, Germany leads, followed by New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. Armenia is the lowest ranked developed country, following Japan (where the Pill remains virtually unavailable), Romania, Tajikistan, and Ukraine.

The news from Africa is decidedly mixed: While the availability of contraception has tripled since 1982, couples there on average still have less access to fewer methods than did Asian and Latin American couples a decade ago.

Source: "Contraceptive Choice: Worldwide Access to Family Planning" is a wall chart available from Population Action International, 1120 19th Street, Suite 550, Washington, D.C. 20036. Telephone 1-202-659-1833; fax 1-202-293-1795.