Improving access to contraceptives for unmarried people

In many countries, family planning clinics will not serve unmarried teenagers. Even among married adolescents the highest user rate in African countries is 25% in Botswana and Zimbabwe. In Botswana and Liberia more than 75% of unmarried women are sexually experienced. In most African countries fewer than 30% of sexually active adolescent women have ever used a modern contraceptive method. Every year nearly one million Nigerian babies are born to teenage mothers. In Mexico City few couples use contraception the first time they have intercourse, and when they do start to use it many rely on the rhythm method, although only about one in four can correctly identify the most fertile part of the cycle. Nearly two-thirds of sexually experienced women aged between 18 and 19 have been pregnant.

In a few African countries, such as Burkina Faso, policies have been changed to allow distribution of contraceptives to unmarried adolescents.