Women in poor households (40.1%) are less likely to practice family planning than those in non-poor households (50.2%). This difference is due mainly to a higher prevalence of female sterilization among non-poor women than among poor women (13.2% versus 5.1%).

Contraceptive use among married women in the Philippines has almost tripled over the last 30 years, from 17 percent in 1973 to 49 percent in 2003 (Table 1). Furthermore, two Filipino women in five who are not currently using a contraceptive method declare having the intention to use one in the future (Table 2), according to results just released by the 2003 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS). The National Statistics Office (NSO) conducted the NDHS, a nationally representative survey of 13,000 households, 14,000 women age 15-49 and 5,000 men age 15-54.

Thirty-five percent of currently married women are reported using modern family planning methods such as pills, condom, female sterilization, male sterilization, IUD, injection, diaphragm/foam/jelly/ cream, temperature or standard days method this year. In 2001, the level of use of modern methods was 31.1 percent.