Due to the lack of studies on the area of family planning in Saudi Arabia, this study sought to examine the prevalence of family planning practices in the country, in addition to presenting the characteristics of users and the determinants of contraceptive use among married women, who are still in their reproductive ages. It utilizes the data from the comprehensive Demographic Survey that was conducted in 1999. It is shown that the level of use is low (19.5%) in the country, but it increases a little more in the urban areas. The use of contraceptives is found to be higher among the more educated, and among those who had many children. Women who live in high standard of living families also have higher use than those in families with low standard of living. By using logistic analysis, it is found that husband education, wife’s education, age of first marriage, number of living children, number of dead children, place of residence, and family standard of living are significant determinants of contraceptive use. It becomes clear that the contraceptive use is mainly for child spacing rather than limiting fertility. Some differences in the determinants of contraceptive use between rural and urban areas are also found.
Keywords: Family Planning, Reproductive Behavior, Fertility, Logistic Regression, Saudi Arabia, Contraceptives.