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Family planning service delivery has been neglected; rigorous analyses of the patterns of contraceptive provision are needed to inform strategies to address this neglect.

We used 57 nationally representative Demographic and Health Surveys in low‐ and middle‐income countries (2000–2013) in four geographic regions to estimate need for contraceptive services, and examined the sector of provision, by women's socio‐economic position. We also assessed method mix and whether women were informed of side effects.

Modern contraceptive use among women in need was lowest in sub‐Saharan Africa (39%), with other regions ranging from 64% to 72%. The private sector share of the family planning market was 37–39% of users across the regions and 37% overall (median across countries: 41%). Private sector users accessed medical providers (range across regions: 30–60 …