In surveyed countries nearly one married woman in every four who has ever used contraception has relied on the pill at some point in her life. Currently, more than 100 million women use OCs. Data both on ever use and on current use of contraception demonstrate the continuing popularity of OCs.

In some countries pill use has been very common. In Brazil nearly 80% of married women have used the pill at some point, as have two-thirds of married women in Costa Rica, Morocco, and Zimbabwe. Between 50% and 60% of all married women have used the pill in diverse countries including Bangladesh, Botswana, Cape Verde, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Nicaragua, South Africa, Thailand, and Trinidad and Tobago. Among developing regions, the pill has been most widely used in Latin America, where 55% of all married women have used the pill at some time. More than one-third of married women in the Near East and North Africa have used the pill, while not quite 15% have used it in sub-Saharan Africa (see Table 1).

Similarly, many sexually active unmarried women have used the pill. In 12 of 28 countries with surveys, more of these women have used the pill than any other modern family planning method. Overall, in these countries 52% of wo-men who have ever used family planning have relied on the pill at some point—39% of all sexually active unmarried women. In Bolivia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Zimbabwe, between 50% and 60% of sexually active unmarried women have used the pill.

Experience with the pill is probably even more common in developed countries than in developing countries, although data on ever use are not available for many developed countries. In Canada 86% of women surveyed in 1995 had used the pill (38). In the US 80% of all women born since 1945 have used the pill, according to a 1990 estimate (106). Perhaps the highest level of experience with the pill is among German women: For example, 94% of eastern German women ages 30 to 44 have taken the pill (261).