Due to changes in society, contraception is now widely available and has been for many years. At a time when women work and don't wait for marriage before having sex, birth control is more of an issue than ever. In Great Britain, 75% of women aged 16-49 use some method to avoid pregnancy, compared to 59% in Northern Ireland.
Although the average age of first-time sex is 16, the average age for giving birth for the first time is 29, which says a lot about the impact of contraception!
However, it seems that there's still some work to be done in terms of educating the young. During their first sexual encounter, only 75% of young people used any form of contraception. The UK currently has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe.
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