The U.S. contraceptives market continues to grow steadily. The cornerstones of this market, oral contraceptives and condoms, continue their respective growth patterns, primarily through new product development and an ongoing need by consumers. The oral contraceptives market could also see gains from recent legislation forcing insurers in 20 U.S. states to cover prescription contraceptives. This legislation will bring more consumers into the oral contraceptive market at the same time as new products designed to allow women to skip periods have just been released.

The market faces some challenges, including a declining female population of prime childbearing years, but some of those challenges are offset by other factors, such as the reduced number of children being born and the increased number of women delaying childbirth or deciding against bearing children altogether. Oral contraceptives are surmounting that difficulty by promoting different facets of their products, including acne protection and pre-menopausal relief, the latter of which could be especially valuable as the Baby Boomers continue to enter menopause. Factors difficult to predict include the possibility of newer strains of STDs to remind consumers of the value of condoms.

Mintel defines the contraceptive market as including all products used for birth control or as prophylactics in sexual relationships.

Included are non-permanent forms of contraception: oral contraceptives, chemical, barrier and hormone-releasing implant methods, whether available over-the-counter (OTC) or on prescription. This includes male and female condoms, spermicides, diaphragms/caps, oral contraceptives (birth control pills), intra-uterine devices (IUDs), and injections.

However, condoms and oral contraceptives are the products included in this report’s market size; other types of contraceptives are not included due to lack of reported sales of such products, some of which are dispensed or administered in physician’s offices and not reported through retail channel data sources.

Oral contraceptive value figures in this report are based on data from manufacturers and other industry sources. The value figures are based only on the dollar value as received by the pharmacist, not the co-pay paid by the patient if her insurance covers the product.

Other methods of permanent contraception such as tubal ligation and vasectomy procedures, or natural methods of birth control, are referred to in order to indicate trends within the market, but are not included in the market size.