Birth Control Effectiveness: Different Types and Methods
Birth control affects many of us throughout our lifetimes. One thing that’s important to consider when choosing birth control is the effectiveness of the method. In this article, we’ll take a look into the ways birth control effectiveness is worked out, how it’s measured, and how your birth control can teach you more about your body.
Key Takeaways:- No birth control is 100% effective. Whatever method you choose to use, there will still be a risk of pregnancy
- However, some birth control methods are more effective than others, and the good news is that using birth control can significantly reduce the risk of getting pregnant
How can we measure birth control effectiveness?
Every one of us is different and will have a different experience with birth control. However, it’s important we have a clinical measurement when we talk about birth control effectiveness so we can understand how well a method works for a larger number of people. In the contraceptive landscape, we normally talk about two measures of effectiveness called typical use and perfect use.
What is typical use?
Typical use reflects how birth control is used by real people in real life. As well as method failure, typical use also incorporates user error. This includes:
- The method being correctly used every time the couple have sex
- The method is correctly used, but not used every time a couple has sex
- The method is used, but sometimes incorrectly
- The method is used incorrectly or is forgotten to be used
As you can see, typical use provides room for error - hence why the failure rate is usually higher than perfect use. This is particularly true for methods that require work from the user, for example, male condoms have a typical use of birth control effectiveness of 87%.
What is the perfect use?
Without taking into account user error, perfect use looks at the method’s effectiveness in a perfect world — i.e. if it was used exactly as it was intended every time a couple had sex. There is still a failure rate that applies if the method itself should stop working, but perfect use tends to be higher than typical use as it removes user error completely. For example, male condoms have a perfect use effectiveness of 98%.
What is the Pearl Index?
The Pearl Index is defined as the number of pregnancies that would happen for one method per 100 women over a year. The pearl index is easy to calculate and understand, and it can be computed for both typical use and perfect use. So for example, the birth control pill has a typical use effectiveness of 93% and a Pearl Index of 7. So that means that we expect seven women in one year will get pregnant from using the pill.
Birth control effectiveness chart
Since every method is different and works in its own way, the effectiveness of methods can vary quite considerably. It’s worth knowing the effectiveness of different methods to understand how effective your method is in the wider contraceptive landscape. Below is a table of birth control effectiveness showing both typical use and perfect use for a range of common methods.
| Method | Typical Use Effectiveness | Perfect Use Effectiveness |
|---|---|---|
| Male Condoms | 87% | 98% |
| Birth Control Pill | 93% | - |
What are some effective birth control methods?
Let’s take a closer look at some effective birth control. But remember that, of course, these are just a selection of contraceptive methods, there are many more options of birth control available.
Natural Cycles
Natural Cycles is a non-invasive, non-hormonal form of birth control. It uses basal body temperature data, period data, and optional luteinizing hormone (LH) tests to calculate your daily fertility status. Red Days are days when you may be fertile. On all Red Days, you should use barrier protection (we recommend condoms) or abstain from vaginal intercourse. Green Days are when you’re not fertile, and no additional protection is needed.