Nigeria has experienced high fertility and rapid population growth for at least the
past thirty years. Only recently have public authorities launched efforts to promote
contraceptive use. In this article, individual women are linked to the characteristics
of the nearest health facility, pharmacy, and source of family planning to assess the
relative importance of women's socioeconomic background and the characteristics
of nearby services on contraceptive use. The results suggest that the limited levels of
female schooling (and probably other factors affecting women's opportunity cost of
time) are constraining contraceptive use, especially in rural areas. Another major
constraint to increased contraceptive use is the low availability of family planning
services in Nigeria. Broader availability of the pill and other methods in pharmacies
and of injectables and intrauterine devices (lUDs) in health facilities is likely to raise
contraceptive use. Outpatient or consultation fees at nearby health facilities do not
appear to be constraining demand for modern contraceptive methods.