New contraceptive methods are needed for developing world women, including one in four in sub-Saharan Africa, whose needs for modern birth control are not being met, a study has found.

A 52-page report by the New York-based Guttmacher Institute urged new methods to reach 148 million women in three regions where there are 49 million unintended pregnancies every year resulting in 21 million abortions.

“Sub-Saharan Africa, south central Asia and southeast Asia are home to 69 per cent of women in the developing world who have an unmet need for a modern method,” said the study. In total, the needs of 215 million or 26 per cent of reproductive-age women across the developing world who wanted to avoid pregnancy either did not use modern contraceptives or relied on traditional options.

This rose to 38 per cent in the three areas and 39 per cent of women who did not want to fall pregnant in sub-Saharan Africa.