Since its establishment in 1989, the FP program of Iran has taken great strides in raising contraceptive prevalence rate and reducing fertility. National surveys conducted since 2000 indicate a mean contraceptive prevalence rate of 74+ and a TFR of about 2.1 for the country as a whole. Traditional urban-rural gap in contraceptive prevalence rates has also been all but eliminated. The main reason for the success of the program would seem to rest in the easy availability of a wide mix of modern contraceptives offered by a community level delivery system integrating FP with other elements of maternal and child health and reproductive health services. Despite the explicit promotion and ready availability of modern methods, however, almost one-fifth of all couples continue to rely on the traditional method of withdrawal.

This paper reviews the latest data on the extent of use of withdrawal by Iranian couples and identifies major social and demographic characteristics of women relying on this method. It is shown that women using this traditional method are more likely to be urban, come from the better-developed provinces, and have higher levels of education. With regard to correlates or consequences of withdrawal use, it is found that provinces with higher rates of withdrawal use have in fact lower fertility rates and the contribution of withdrawal use to unintended pregnancies is not markedly different from that of such other commonly used modern methods as pill or condom.