ABSTRACT
The family planning program of India, begun in 1952 as part of the first Five-Year Plan of independent India, has a long and varied history. As the program developed, its focus and content evolved, and so did the choice of contraceptive methods that it promoted. The program has benefited from large-scale experimentation with program direction, strategies, and methods. Couples’ motivations for using contraception play a significant role in their choice of methods. Social factors influence not only the acceptance of family planning, but also the choice of contraceptives. Couples’ background characteristics are a major factor in contraceptive motivation. Among the background characteristics that affect method choice are wife’s age, number of living children, educational status of husband and wife, religion, and rural-urban residence. Most family planning programs keep statistics on the annual number of new acceptors of available methods.
