CONTRACEPTIVE BEHAVIOR IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

This article is dedicated to the analysis of patterns of contraceptive behavior in different European countries with special focus on the case of Lithuania. Based on the data of the international "Generations and Gender" Survey contraceptive behavior is evaluated through two main measures: contraceptive prevalence rate and the structure of contraceptive methods used. Additionally, the relationship between the changing contraceptive behavior and abortion rates is discussed. Analysis has revealed that an intermediate pattern of contraceptive behavior in terms of the contraceptive transition is observed in Lithuania - even though modern contraceptive methods constitute almost half of all the methods used, traditional methods of contraception remain important. Parallel to the changes in contraceptive behavior certain changes in abortion trends were observed, however, the real scale of these changes is difficult to establish due to the likely inaccuracies in abortion statistics.