Has the Use of Contraceptive Helped in Averting Births? An Analysis of Births Averted in 21 Major States of India

Abstract

Background: In a highly populated country like India, family planning plays a major role in controlling population growth. Estimation of births averted helps in assessing the effectiveness of contraceptive methods. Since the 1950s, different strategies of family planning have been adopted to curb fertility rates by expanding the use of modern contraception among couples. As a result, there has been a steady increase in the users of family planning methods to curb their family sizes. However, there is variation in the adoption of contraceptive methods across the states. From earlier researches, it is established that the permanent modern methods like female sterilization, male sterilization, and IUCD are almost 100 percent effective methods to prevent pregnancy. This study, therefore, is a worthy attempt to estimate the births averted using modern contraception at present for Indian states with the help of the latest available data, by using the method suggested by Liu and others (2008)[11]. Results: The results of the analysis show that births averted were highest in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. However, the percentage reduction in births by the contraceptive method is highest in Punjab indicating the effectiveness of modern contraception use. Conclusions: The analysis of births-averted estimation not only shows the state-level variations but also its significant impact on reducing TFR. Further, female sterilization has the highest prevalence rate among the contraceptive method and averting the highest number of births.