Countries With the Highest Unintended Pregnancy Rates
Every country with a figure for unintended pregnancy rate, ranked from highest to lowest. The top three are Uganda (145), Sao Tome and Principe (130) and Zambia (123). The middle country of the 145 has 61.3.
What this measures
Unintended pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15-49 (model estimate, 2015-2019). Source: Guttmacher Institute (Bearak et al. 2022, BMJ Global Health). For this measure, higher is worse.
The Guttmacher Institute's estimate of pregnancies that were not wanted then or not wanted at all, per 1,000 women aged 15 to 49, averaged over 2015-2019. Whether a pregnancy was intended comes from what women say in surveys, so it is an estimate built from those surveys and a statistical model. Each figure has a range: Uganda's is 145, but it could be from 123 to 169.
The full ranking
Each country’s latest figure, from 2019–2019. The year beside each value says when it was measured.
| Rank | Country | Unintended pregnancy rate | Year | Region |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uganda | 145 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 2 | Sao Tome and Principe | 130 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 3 | Zambia | 123 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 4 | Angola | 120 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 5 | Congo, Dem. Rep. | 117 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 6 | Malawi | 115 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 7 | Solomon Islands | 114 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 8 | Kenya | 113 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 9 | Gabon | 112 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 10 | Eswatini | 111 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 11 | Haiti | 107 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 12 | Liberia | 106 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 13 | Congo, Rep. | 106 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 14 | Tanzania | 105 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 15 | Bolivia | 105 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 16 | Namibia | 104 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 17 | Ghana | 102 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 18 | Cabo Verde | 102 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 19 | Togo | 100 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 20 | Somalia, Fed. Rep. | 99.6 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 21 | Guinea-Bissau | 99.5 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 22 | Lesotho | 98.9 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 23 | Burundi | 98.1 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 24 | Rwanda | 97.6 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 25 | Botswana | 96.8 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 26 | Cote d'Ivoire | 96.4 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 27 | Comoros | 95.2 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 28 | Madagascar | 94.8 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 29 | Georgia | 93.6 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 30 | Azerbaijan | 92.9 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 31 | Central African Republic | 90.2 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 32 | Peru | 89.5 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 33 | Sierra Leone | 88.2 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 34 | Mozambique | 88.2 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 35 | Jamaica | 86.9 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 36 | Vanuatu | 86.9 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 37 | Benin | 85.9 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 38 | Viet Nam | 85.5 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 39 | Trinidad and Tobago | 83.9 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 40 | Dominican Republic | 83.7 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 41 | Cameroon | 83.4 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 42 | South Africa | 81.5 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 43 | Papua New Guinea | 79.8 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 44 | Ecuador | 79.7 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 45 | Ethiopia | 79.5 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 46 | Barbados | 76.9 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 47 | Guyana | 76.5 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 48 | Burkina Faso | 75.2 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 49 | Zimbabwe | 73.9 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 50 | Panama | 73.1 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 51 | Cuba | 71.6 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 52 | Pakistan | 70.9 | 2019 | Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan |
| 53 | Belize | 70.9 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 54 | Philippines | 70.8 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 55 | Chile | 70 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 56 | Guinea | 69.8 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 57 | Cambodia | 69.2 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 58 | Argentina | 69 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 59 | St. Lucia | 68.7 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 60 | Nigeria | 68.2 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 61 | Honduras | 67.8 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 62 | Mauritania | 67.6 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 63 | Mali | 67.6 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 64 | Paraguay | 67.4 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 65 | Brazil | 67.2 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 66 | Suriname | 66.9 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 67 | Samoa | 66.4 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 68 | China | 64.8 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 69 | Russian Federation | 64.2 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 70 | Guatemala | 62.8 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 71 | Colombia | 62.7 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 72 | India | 62.4 | 2019 | South Asia |
| 73 | Senegal | 61.3 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 74 | Mexico | 60.3 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 75 | Nepal | 59.7 | 2019 | South Asia |
| 76 | Chad | 59.6 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 77 | Maldives | 59.5 | 2019 | South Asia |
| 78 | Bangladesh | 58.9 | 2019 | South Asia |
| 79 | El Salvador | 57.6 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 80 | Kazakhstan | 57.5 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 81 | Nicaragua | 56.3 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 82 | South Sudan | 54.5 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 83 | Puerto Rico (US) | 54.3 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 84 | Gambia, The | 53.7 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 85 | Eritrea | 52.6 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 86 | Armenia | 52.6 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 87 | Costa Rica | 51.8 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 88 | Lao PDR | 50.7 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 89 | Djibouti | 50.4 | 2019 | Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan |
| 90 | Timor-Leste | 49.6 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 91 | Tonga | 49.4 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 92 | Niger | 49.2 | 2019 | Sub-Saharan Africa |
| 93 | Bhutan | 47.5 | 2019 | South Asia |
| 94 | Romania | 44.4 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 95 | Uruguay | 41.5 | 2019 | Latin America & Caribbean |
| 96 | New Zealand | 40.9 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 97 | Indonesia | 39.9 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 98 | Kyrgyz Republic | 39.7 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 99 | Sri Lanka | 38.9 | 2019 | South Asia |
| 100 | Thailand | 38.3 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 101 | Estonia | 38.1 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 102 | Australia | 37.4 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 103 | Tajikistan | 36.9 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 104 | United Kingdom | 36.2 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 105 | Sweden | 35.8 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 106 | Myanmar | 35.5 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 107 | Czechia | 34.9 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 108 | United States | 34.7 | 2019 | North America |
| 109 | Korea, Rep. | 34.5 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 110 | Norway | 34.2 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 111 | Latvia | 33.8 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 112 | Croatia | 33.5 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 113 | Slovenia | 33.2 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 114 | Greece | 33 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 115 | Finland | 32.6 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 116 | Iceland | 32.6 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 117 | Canada | 31.5 | 2019 | North America |
| 118 | Mongolia | 31.4 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 119 | Denmark | 29.8 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 120 | France | 29 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 121 | Poland | 28.7 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 122 | Bulgaria | 28.6 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 123 | Uzbekistan | 28.6 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 124 | Italy | 28.3 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 125 | Hong Kong SAR, China | 27.8 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 126 | Hungary | 27.3 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 127 | Slovak Republic | 27.3 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 128 | Ukraine | 27.1 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 129 | Moldova | 26.2 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 130 | Lithuania | 25.6 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 131 | North Macedonia | 23.2 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 132 | Turkmenistan | 22.8 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 133 | Japan | 21.4 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 134 | Germany | 21.3 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 135 | Serbia | 21 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 136 | Belgium | 21 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 137 | Portugal | 20.9 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 138 | Switzerland | 20.3 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 139 | Spain | 20.3 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 140 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 20 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 141 | Singapore | 18.8 | 2019 | East Asia & Pacific |
| 142 | Belarus | 18.7 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 143 | Netherlands | 17.5 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 144 | Albania | 16 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
| 145 | Montenegro | 10.9 | 2019 | Europe & Central Asia |
More on unintended pregnancy rate
- Countries With the Lowest Unintended Pregnancy Rates
- Unintended pregnancy rate by country: trend over time and what it goes with
Related rankings
- Countries With the Highest Abortion Rate (estimate)
- Countries With the Highest Unintended Pregnancies Ending in Abortion
- Countries With the Highest Abortion Rate (legal, reported)
- Countries With the Highest Contraceptive Use (any method)
- Countries With the Highest Contraceptive Use (modern methods)
- Countries With the Highest Life Expectancy
- Countries With the Highest Infant Mortality
- Countries With the Highest Under-5 Mortality
A ranking describes countries, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All country rankings.