Contraceptive Transitions: Some Highlights from a New Review of Evidence
24 March 2025
Presenters (via Zoom):
John B. Casterline, Ohio State University (United States)
Jamaica Corker, University of Washington (United States)
Nathalie Sawadogo, Institut Supérieur des Sciences de la Population (ISSP), University Joseph Ki-Zerbo (Burkina Faso)
Discussant:
Heini Vaïsänen, Researcher,French Institute for Demographic Studies - INED (France)
Description: The substantial increase in contraceptive use, particularly “modern” methods, since 1960 constitutes a revolutionary social and behavioral change. What accounts for population-level contraceptive transitions? Is there a universal pattern with variations in timing and rates of change from low to high rates of contraceptive use, or are there a wider range of pathways? And how are contraceptive transitions related to – or distinct from – fertility transitions ? A recently published Supplement to Population and Development Review – a product of the work of an IUSSP Panel – contains eight articles that wrestle with these questions. The aim in assembling this collection of essays was to synthesize the extensive scholarship of the past few decades on contraceptive change, critique this scholarship, identify unresolved issues, and suggest promising ways forward. The Supplement includes a range of disciplinary perspectives on contraceptive transitions and population-level contraceptive change – demography, sociology, economics, epidemiology. For this presentation, we highlight arguments and conclusions in the essays that may seem surprising and/or that challenge prevalent assumptions among scholars.
John B. Casterline is Professor Emeritus in Sociology and the Institute for Population Research at Ohio State University, where he served on the faculty 2007-2023. John B. Casterline conducts research on fertility transition and reproductive behavior in low- and middle-income societies. He has participated in primary data collection projects in the Philippines, Pakistan, Egypt, Ghana, and Nigeria. John B. Casterline is past-President of the Population Association of America [2019]. He has also served on the Council of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population [IUSSP]. Jonh B. Casterline holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Michigan (1980) and a BA from Yale College (1969).
Jamaica Corker is a demographer with over fifteen years’ experience in demographic research and family planning & reproductive health programs, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. She has worked extensively in health and family planning program research and implementation, including with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, PSI, and the WHO and CDC as part of the West African Ebola response. Jamaica has lived and worked in the DRC, Switzerland, Guinea and China, and through it all has maintained a keen interest in better understanding and improving research methods and measurement for contraceptive decision making. She has an MSc from the London School of Economics and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.
Nathalie Sawadogo is a demographer and teacher-researcher at the Institut Supérieur des Sciences de la Population (ISSP), University Joseph Ki-Zerbo (Burkina Faso). Her research focuses on social inequalities in the area of health rights, and in particular in sexual and reproductive rights of vulnerable groups at different stages of the life cycle. She is currently finalizing the implementation of a research and action project on empowerment strategies for teenage mothers in Burkina Faso, and coordinating research on the role of Misoprostol in improving maternal health in Burkina Faso.
John B. Casterline is Professor Emeritus in Sociology and the Institute for Population Research at Ohio State University, where he served on the faculty 2007-2023. John B. Casterline conducts research on fertility transition and reproductive behavior in low- and middle-income societies. He has participated in primary data collection projects in the Philippines, Pakistan, Egypt, Ghana, and Nigeria. John B. Casterline is past-President of the Population Association of America [2019]. He has also served on the Council of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population [IUSSP]. Jonh B. Casterline holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Michigan (1980) and a BA from Yale College (1969).
Jamaica Corker is a demographer with over fifteen years’ experience in demographic research and family planning & reproductive health programs, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. She has worked extensively in health and family planning program research and implementation, including with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, PSI, and the WHO and CDC as part of the West African Ebola response. Jamaica has lived and worked in the DRC, Switzerland, Guinea and China, and through it all has maintained a keen interest in better understanding and improving research methods and measurement for contraceptive decision making. She has an MSc from the London School of Economics and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.