From this slide, you can see that while contraceptive use rates are low in Africa, the rate of unintended pregnancy is also low. This nicely supports the change in the UN policies at the 1994 Cairo meeting which stressed that population program efforts should not only focus on fertility control but should also support people’s freedom to make reproductive decisions. Although fertility rates are high and contraception rates are low in Africa, the rate of intended pregnancy is high.

It should also be noted though that this is not the case in every country, and there are large global differences. In Bolivia, for example, the rate of unintended pregnancy is remarkably high at 45%. This also highlights an aspect of the 1994 population control conference report, which indicated that people should have access to safe, affordable, and acceptable family planning services. Clearly, this need is not being met in all countries.