One way for developing countries to afford the costs of family planning is to reduce the number of women who have the ability to pay from obtaining subsidized (public) services. Public-sector resources can then be directed to women with the greatest financial need. Such targeting is an important component of contraceptive security because it has the potential to expand access to family planning to society’s poorest groups while addressing equity concerns. Various papers have pointed out that wealthy women receive a subsidy when they use the public sector. This brief describes the first attempt, as far as we know, to calculate this subsidy.

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