A Quiet Revolution in Condom Use in Urban India

Aparna Jain, Johns Hopkins University
Amy Tsui, Johns Hopkins University
Anrudh Jain, Population Council

Global condom use for pregnancy avoidance tends to be low, estimated at 6% as reported by reproductive-aged females in unions. Condom prevalence in urban India rose from 5.8% to 10% between 1993 and 2005. We analyze factors behind trends in urban condom use among non-sterilized married women using three National Family and Health Survey rounds. Relative risk ratios from multinomial regressions show that, compared to non-use, a woman’s condom use is significantly associated with residing in the northern, central, and western regions, high parity, high education, desire to space as well as limit births, and awareness of condom’s benefits for HIV prevention. Between 1998 and 2005 the strength of associations, although statistically significant, declined across covariates except for region and child spacing preference. This is consistent with the spread of condom use. Anomalies in condom reliance among limiters and high-parity women suggest an environment of constrained method choice.