The two types of family planning methods are: “positive” family planning, which is targeted at the effort to conceive, whereas “negative” family planning is aimed at the prevention of unwanted pregnancy (contraception). 

The ever increasing human population is one of the biggest issues humanity is having to face, especially in developing nations such as Asia, Africa, and Latin America, that are already overpopulated. Our planet only has enough water and food supplies for a limited population.

Family planning is considered a fundamental human right in all developed countries. 

The only realistic solution for regulating the ever-increasing population is to gradually introduce family planning methods into countries with the highest natural population growth. 

In developed countries, women's awareness of methods of contraception, its availability, effectiveness and harmlessness has increased significantly, and family planning has become a common and integral part of today’s society. In developed countries, women themselves have both the knowledge and resources to plan the number of children they want, and when they want them. In an ideal world, children all over the world would be born into families that truly want their birth. 

Contraception

Contraception, or birth control,  is a method of impeding fertilisation from occurring during sexual intercourse. The purpose of contraceptive methods is to prevent the sperm from fertilising the egg inside the female’s reproductive tract. Nowadays there are numerous ways of doing so, and the methods are separated into two large subgroups: male contraception & female contraception. 

Male Contraceptive methods: 

• Withdrawal (“pull-out method”) 
• Condoms
• Sterilisation

Female Contraceptive methods

• Natural contraceptive methods (calendar rhythm method) 
• Barrier method
• Chemical method
• Intrauterine device (IUD) 
• Hormonal contraception
• “Morning after pill”- emergency contraception
• Sterilisation