A new survey conducted by the Health Ministry has revealed that a lot of unmarried women are now opting for safe sex. The National Family Health Survey 2015-16 has found that the use of contraceptives, condoms specifically has gone from 2% to 12%. The age group under the finding was 15 to 49 years. The maximum use of condoms amongst the unmarried women was in the age group of 20-24 years.

Another quite interesting finding was men think of contraception as a 'women's business' than theirs! 3 out of 8 men tend not to think about contraception and the woman can take care of it. These findings reveal a very important aspect of the knowledge of contraception among the people. So while sex is still kept a taboo, at least people are paying heed to measures of having safe sex. These findings do not literally translate into widespread safe sex measures been used effectively. The survey showed that the contraceptive prevalence rate was just 54% among the married women between 15-49 years. And out of this group, only 10% of women are aware of the modern contraceptive method. The modern contraceptive methods include sterilization, pills, skin patches and intrauterine devices (IUDs). But still, many women prefer the traditional methods.

The unmarried sexually active women are more likely to use the modern methods including sterilization. Many women in the age group of 25-49 years are resorting to it. This, in fact, was the most commonly used contraception method. All these findings of unmarried women preferring contraception so actively are extremely favourable.

Also, the highest number of contraceptives were used in Punjab (76%) and it was lowest in the states of Manipur, Bihar and Meghalaya (24% each). In the same vein, 65% of Sikh women along with Buddhist and Neo-Buddhist women go for modern contraceptive methods. The use of these modern methods is in relation to the wealth groups. 36% women in the lowest income strata also chose for modern methods, and the use was just more in the wealthiest group, with 53% women opting for the same. It was the public health sector which made available the modern contraceptive methods to the users.

While these findings highlight the affirmation of modern contraceptives, family planning is still a concern to be addressed. The survey stated that two-thirds of currently married women aged between 15-49 years demanded family planning. Some women prefer for space births and about 55% wanted to limit the birth of a child. Women from modern areas were obviously more aware about family planning as compared to those from the rural and tribal areas. If all these women adopt family planning methods well, then the contraceptive prevalence rate will increase from current 54% to 66%, which is a good sign.

This survey was prepared by International Institute for Population Science (IIPS) and included interviews and field tests of 6,01,509 households with a response rate of 98%. This survey shows how the tabooed topic of sex is actually being actively looked at by unmarried women and they have positively taken the contraceptive methods available today.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 29, 2018 11:21 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).