 Number: 2009-29 Date Released: April 27, 2009 Half of the Women in the Philippines are Practicing Family Planning (Preliminary Results from the 2008 National Demographic and Health Survey)
The contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) or the proportion of married women in the Philippines who are using any method of family planning is 51 percent, according to the preliminary results of the 2008 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS). The current estimate of CPR and the estimates from the 1998 NDHS and 2003 NDHS imply increasing contraceptive use by married women over the last decade: 47 percent in 1998, 49 percent in 2003, and 51 percent in 2008. These estimates are subject to sampling errors since these are based on sample surveys, hence, the observed differences are not always significant. The increase in the CPR over the last decade, from 1998 to 2008, is statistically significant. However, the observed increase in the past five years is not significant (Table 1).
Thirty-four percent of married women rely on a modern method, mostly the pill (16 percent) and female sterilization (9 percent). The use of the pill has increased in the past 5 years, from 13 percent in 2003 to 16 percent in 2008 (Table 2). Users of modern natural family planning methods comprise less than one percent. Modern natural family planning methods include cervical mucus method or ovulation method or Billings method, standard days method (SDM) and lactational amenorrhea method (LAM). Seventeen percent of married women use a traditional method such as withdrawal and calendar or rhythm method.
The National Statistics Office (NSO) conducted the 2008 NDHS from August 7 to September 27, 2008. The 2008 NDHS is a nationally representative survey of almost 14,000 households and 14,000 women age 15-49. It is the ninth in a series of demographic surveys undertaken by the NSO at five-year intervals since 1968. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provided funding assistance for some activities during the preparatory and processing phases of the 2008 NDHS. Macro International provided technical assistance to the project.
Other important preliminary findings of the 2008 NDHS will be presented in a data dissemination forum on April 28, 2009. The final report on the survey findings will be published in the last quarter of 2009.
(Sgd.) CARMELITA N. ERICTA Table 1. Contraceptive prevalence rates, with standard errors and confidence intervals, Philippines: 1998, 2003, 2008
Table 2. Percent distribution of currently married women by contraceptive method used, Philippines: 2003, 2008
Sources: 2003 and 2008 National Demographic and Health Surveys | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||