Family planning was worse in poor households.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says that family planning has remained low due to lack of contraception materials and effective campaigns for child-spacing in urban and rural areas.

This is contained in the ”2012 Millennium Development Goals Performance Tracking Survey Report,” issued in Abuja on Thursday.

The report tracks the progress and challenges towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

“Only about 17.3 per cent of women between 15 years and 49 years used any method of child-spacing in 2012.

“‘The unmet need for family planning equally rose marginally like in the previous years, 2004 and 2008. Only about 21.5 per cent of contraception need was not met,” the report said.

It said that family planning, antenatal care visits and coverage were not encouraging in the poorest households.

“Only about 3.3 per cent of women in the poorest households used any method of child-spacing. In contrast, about 25.8 per cent of those in the wealthiest households used contraception,” it said.

The report said the number of births by women in the poorest household attended to by skilled health workers was 14.5 per cent, compared to 84.3 per cent for those in the richest households.

“About 19.9 per cent of skilled health workers provided antenatal care services; while antenatal care visits of those in the richest households was 84.1 per cent with about 90.8 per cent of skilled health workers providing antenatal services,” it said.

(NAN)