New estimates of contraceptive use and mode effect

Anne Gauthier , Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute
Vladimira Kantorova, United Nations Population Division
Konstantin Schmandt, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute
Nursel Alkoç, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute

Universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services by 2030 is a key target of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Yet, access to family planning, and especially modern contraception, remains limited worldwide. Recent estimates suggest that, worldwide, 49 percent of women age 15-49 years old currently use contraception. However large variations persist across population subgroups, including among young people. Significant differences also remain between countries, including a pronounced East–West divide in Europe. This paper pursues two aims. First, the aim is to provide up-to-date estimates of contraceptive use from the recently collected Generations and Gender Survey round II data (GGS-II). This includes 19 European countries and 4 non-European ones. Trends over time and comparisons with estimates from other sources will also be provided. Second, the aim is to assess the impact of the changes in the mode of data collection, from face-to-face (in GGS-I) to self-completed web mode (in GGS-II), on reports of contraceptive use. Evidence from the literature suggests considerable mode effect for subjective items: with responses to survey questions in web mode showing more variations than in face-to-face mode. It remains unclear if responses to questions on contraceptive use are also affected by the mode of data collection. Of particular interest here will be the results from countries where mixed mode of data collection was used for the GGS-II survey. This will allow us to tease out selection issues (do personal characteristics vary across modes) and mode effects.

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 Presented in Session P8. Demographic Trends, History, Data and Methods