The Impact of Local Supply of Popular Contraceptives on Women’s Unmet Need for Family Planning

Devon Kristiansen, Minnesota Population Center
Elizabeth Boyle, University of Minnesota
Joseph Svec, Iowa State University

This research considers whether the greater availability of popular contraceptive methods across local service delivery providers (SDPs) decreases the risk of unmet need for contraceptives among nearby women. We add to the literature by providing and testing a new way of measuring contraceptive supply. We use IPUMS Performance Monitoring for Action data from seven sub-Saharan African countries. PMA constitute a unique data source, as measures are available for both individual women and SDPs near their households. We employ multilevel logistic regression with fixed effects for enumeration areas. The critical finding is that the greater the number of SDPs carrying at least one of the three most popular methods of the region where the woman lives, the lower the likelihood of women experiencing unmet need for contraceptives. For every additional SDP carrying a popular contraceptive method in stock, the risk of unmet need is decreased by 15%.