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Over 90% Of Married Indian Women Know About Contraceptives, But Only 50% Use Them

Over 90% Of Married Indian Women Know About Contraceptives, But Only 50% Use Them
OLD TOWN, VARANASI, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA - 2011/12/15: Mother giving Shantala massage to her baby and her other daughters sitting around. Shantala massage is an ancient type of Indian massage, transmitted orally from mother to child. Strongly influenced by Yoga tradition and Ayurvedic medicine, it is particularly appropriate for babies. (Photo by Raquel Maria Carbonell Pagola/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Raquel Maria Carbonell Pagola via Getty Images
OLD TOWN, VARANASI, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA - 2011/12/15: Mother giving Shantala massage to her baby and her other daughters sitting around. Shantala massage is an ancient type of Indian massage, transmitted orally from mother to child. Strongly influenced by Yoga tradition and Ayurvedic medicine, it is particularly appropriate for babies. (Photo by Raquel Maria Carbonell Pagola/LightRocket via Getty Images)

India is on course of becoming the world’s most populous country by 2050 with 1.6 billion people, up from 1.2 billion in 2011. So, there's no doubt that education on contraceptives is increasingly becoming important.

While campaigns on the use of contraceptives over the years have familiarised many Indians with its benefits, not a lot of people seem to be using it.

According to a nationwide survey, conducted by the Office of Registrar General & Census Commissioner, while 94.5% of married women are aware of contraceptives, only half the population use it.

Thee sample registration system (SRS) baseline survey 2014 released by the registrar general of India recently shows what percentage of married women use contraceptives across the states.

In most states, more than 90% of the married women are aware of the contraceptive usage. Haryana tops the list when it comes to knowledge about contraceptives-- 98.4% of married women are aware of it. But among them, 52.6% practice it.

Women in Jammu & Kashmir and Tamil Nadu, though aware of contraceptives, barely use it. 27.9% married women in J&K and 37.3% women in Tamil Nadu practice it.

With 67.2% women using contraceptives in West Bengal, the state tops the list. Among other states where there's comparatively a higher population of women using contraceptives are--Odisha (67.1%) Madhya Pradesh (64.5%) and Gujarat (62.4%).

The state that has the highest percentage of women who are aware of contraceptives and don't use it is Bihar. While 95.3% of married women in Bihar have a knowledge of contraceptives, only 30.2% practice it.

To put things in context, Bihar has India’s highest fertility rate of 3.4 babies per woman, against the national average of 2.3.

Here are the graphs to show how many Indian women use contraceptives in India.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.