A total of 50.7 percent of married women in the Philippines use traditional or modern contraceptives to plan their families, the National Statistics Office revealed Monday.

Preliminary results of the 2008 National Demographic and Health Survey showed that 50.7 percent of married women in the Philippines use some family planning methods, whether natural or modern. The remaining 49.3 percent do not use any contraceptives.

The NSO said the contraceptive prevalence rate increased from 47 percent in 1998 to 49 percent in 2003 to 51 percent last year.

"The increase in the CPR over the last decade, from 1998 to 2008, is statistically significant. However, the observed increase in the past five years is not significant," NSO Administrator Carmelita Ericta said.

The survey showed that 34 percent of married women rely on a modern method, mostly the pill (16 percent) and female sterilization (9 percent). It said the use of the pill has increased in the past five years, from 13 percent in 2003 to 16 percent in 2008.

Seventeen percent of married women use a traditional method such as withdrawal and calendar or rhythm method while less than one percent of women use modern natural family planning methods (cervical mucus method/ovulation method or Billings method/ standard days method/ lactational amenorrhea method).

The NSO conducted the 2008 NDHS from August 7 to September 27, 2008. The 2008 NDHS is a nationally representative survey of almost 14,000 households and 14,000 women age 15-49. It is the ninth in a series of demographic surveys undertaken by the NSO at five-year intervals since 1968.