When used correctly, condoms provide one of the safest and most effective methods to protect against sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies.
We’ve all heard horror stories of condoms breaking or slipping off, resulting in visits to the doctor to treat STIs, the use of emergency contraceptives, and sometimes, even abortions.
But how often do condoms fail? What causes a condom to break? And what should you do if a condom fails?
Below, we’re exploring all this and more! Let’s go!
Condom Failure Rate – Key Stats
- Condoms fail 3% of the time when used correctly.
- Male condom failures rates vary between 3% and 14%
- Within the past 6 months, 2.7% was the average breakage rate for men aged 20 to 39.
- 7.9% of condoms break or slip off during intercourse.
- Slippage and breakage rates are 4 to 5 higher for African-American men.
- Lower-income males are more likely to experience a broken condom.
- Men who use condoms infrequently are more likely to experience breakage.
- Men who engage in high-risk sexual activity are more likely to experience breakage.
- 1 out of 250 condoms is likely to be defective.
- Female condoms have a 5% failure rate.
- Polyurethane condoms are 216% more likely to break or slip off.
- Condom failure rates are highest in Northern Africa and Western Asia.
- Younger contraceptive users are 2.8 times more likely to experience failure.
- Condoms only reduce your risk of contracting genital herpes by 30%.
- Condoms are only 80% effective at preventing HIV.
- 11% of women aged 15 to 44 have used Plan B after experiencing a broken condom.
- Plan B is up to 87% effective at preventing pregnancy after a condom breaks or slips off during intercourse.
- Women who used condoms less than 5 times without issue are more likely to have a condom break.
How Often Do Condoms Fail?
Condom Failure By Race
Condom Failure By Yearly Income
Condom Failure By Usage Frequency
Condom Failure By Number Of Partners
What Percentage Of Condoms Break?
What Is One Of The Biggest Complaints About The Female Condom?
Do Polyurethane Condoms Break Easily?
Male Condom Failure Rates By Region
12-Month Contraceptive Failure Rates By Age
How Effective Are Condoms? Are Condoms 100% Effective?
Why Condoms Fail
How Can Condoms Break?
Can A Condom Wrapper Break While It’s In Your Wallet?
What Do You Do If A Condom Fails?
How Do You Avoid Condom Failure?
References
How Often Do Condoms Fail?
Condoms are one of the most common tools used for safer sex.
However, no contraceptives are 100% effective against STIs or unplanned pregnancies.
Even when used properly, there’s still a small chance that using a condom can fail to protect you and your partner.
- Condoms fail an estimated 3% of the time when couples use them consistently and correctly.
- Failures rates vary between 3% and 14%, depending on several usage issues, such as improper applications, using the wrong type of lubricant, and using the wrong size.
- 2.7% was the average breakage rate in the last six months for men aged 20 to 39.
- For couples, the average breakage rate is 3.1% within the last month and 4.7% within the previous year.
- 7.9% of 405 condoms used during intercourse either broke or slipped off during the act.
Condom Failure By Race
- Condom breakage and slippage rates are 4 to 5 times higher for African-American men.
- The per-person breakage rate for African-American men is 8.3%.
- The per-person breakage for non-African-American men is 1.6%.
- Black males are less likely than white males to view condoms as a hassle.
Condom Failure By Yearly Income
- Condom breakage and slippage occur more often among lower-income males.
- Men with a yearly income of less than $10,000 USD have a condom breakage rate of 5.8%.
- Men with annual incomes of more than $10,000 USD have breakage rates of 1% to 1.8%.
Condom Failure By Usage Frequency
- Males who use condoms infrequently have higher instances of condom breakage and slippage.
- Men using less than ten condoms in the past six months have an average breakage rate of 3.7%.
- Men who have used 10 to 19 condoms in the past six months have an average breakage rate of 2.9%.
- Men who have used more than 20 condoms in the past six months have an average breakage rate of 1.7%.
- 2 out of 84 – or 2.4% of condoms broke when used by inexperienced users.
- Previous users have a breakage rate of 1.6%.
Condom Failure By Number Of Partners
- Men who have sex with multiple partners or engage in anal intercourse are likelier to experience condom failure.
- The breakage rate is 2.2% for men with only a single partner in the previous two months.
- The breakage rate is 11.5% for men with two or more sexual partners in the last two months.
What Percentage Of Condoms Break?
Sometimes, a condom might fail due to improper use. However, manufacturing defects, improper storage, and even the wrong temperature can cause a condom to fail.
So how many condoms should you expect to break?
- Based on manufacturer defects, you can expect one in two-hundred and fifty condoms to break.
- 1.9% of condoms used within the last six months broke when used by men aged 20 to 39.
- Breakage rates are higher among men who prefer using condoms that contain non-spermicidal lubricants.
- Between 0.8% and 40.7% of study participants reported sexual encounters that ended with a broken condom.
Do Polyurethane Condoms Break Easily?
As much as 7% of the general population has an allergy to latex, which is why you can find polyurethane condoms in most pharmacies or stores where condoms are sold.
Like traditional male and female condoms, polyurethane condoms can be very effective when used perfectly.
However, overall, polyurethane condoms are not as effective as preventing pregnancy.
- Polyurethane condoms are 216% more likely to slip off or break than latex condoms.
- Within six months of typical usage, there is a 9% likelihood of pregnancy when polyurethane condoms are used.
- Condom users generally have less confidence in polyurethane condoms.
The Effectiveness Of Female Condoms
Like the male condom, the female condom can be highly effective at protecting against sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies.
However, since male condoms aren’t 100% effective, this leaves us wondering how effective the female condom is.
How Often Do Female Condoms Fail?
- The failure rate for female condoms is 5% when used consistently and correctly.
- 5 of 100 women will likely become pregnant after using the female condom.
However, because most condom users don’t use them consistently or correctly, the typical failure rate for female condoms is much higher.
- The female condom has a typical failure rate of 21%, meaning that 21 out of 100 females are likely to become pregnant within the first year of usage.
What Is One Of The Biggest Complaints About The Female Condom?
- Most men and women aren’t properly educated on using female condoms.
- Compared to male condoms, female condoms are used much less frequently, which may be why they are less effective.
- Female condoms can make women more susceptible to urinary tract infections (UTIs) if left in for too long.
- It’s more challenging to use female condoms compared to male condoms.
Are Condoms 100% Effective?
When used perfectly every time, condoms can be as much as 98% effective at preventing pregnancy and the transmission of STIs.
However, no form of contraceptive—be it condoms, the pill, or an IUD—is 100% effective at all times.
So just how effective are condoms?
- 2% of women end up pregnant when condoms are used as a primary contraceptive.
- However, most people don’t use condoms correctly every time.
- Condoms are more likely closer to an 87% rate of effectiveness.
- 13 out of 100 women who use condoms as their primary form of protection will get pregnant within one year.
- Even if you use condoms 100% of the time, they only reduce your risk of contracting genital herpes by 30%.
- Typical condom use is 80% effective at preventing the transmission of HIV during vaginal intercourse.
- Typical condom use is 70% effective at preventing the transmission of HIV during anal intercourse.
US Contraceptive Failure Rate By Type
Below, we examined contraceptive failure rates based on the method used.
The figures listed cover the percentage of women who typically become pregnant within one year of usage.
| Contraceptive Method | Failure Rate With Average Use | Failure Rate With Perfect Use |
|---|---|---|
| Male condom | 13% | 2% |
| Female condom | 21% | 5% |
| Implant | 0.10% | 0.10% |
| Hormone-releasing IUD | 0.1% to 0.4% | 0.1% t0 0.3% |
| Copper IUD | 0.80% | 0.60% |
| Spermicides | 21% | 16% |
| Diaphragm (used with spermicide) | 17% | 16% |
| Patch | 7% | 0.30% |
| Injectable | 4% | 0.20% |
| Withdrawal | 20% | 4% |
Male Condom Failure Rates By Developing World Subregions
- Across seven subregions, the failure rate for male condoms varied between 2.2 to 8.7 per 100 uses.
- The lowest failure rates were seen in Western Africa.
- The highest failure rates were seen in Northern Africa and Western Asia.
| Male Condom Failure Rates By Region | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Subregion | 12 month failure rate | 24 month failure rate | 35 month failure rate |
| East Africa | 3.5 | 8.5 | 11.9 |
| Western Africa | 2.2 | 4.8 | 6.2 |
| North Africa and Western Asia | 8.7 | 16.4 | 24.1 |
| Eastern Europe and Central Asia | 7.2 | 12.7 | 17.7 |
| Southern Asia | 7.4 | 13.9 | 18.7 |
| Southeastern Asia | 8.3 | 15.4 | 19.1 |
| Latin American and the Caribbean | 6.7 | 11.5 | 16.1 |
*Failure rate per 100 episodes of condom use.
12-Month Contraceptive Failure Rates By Age
Below, we examine the 12-month failure rate of condoms and several other common contraceptives among women under 25 compared to women over 25.
- Regardless of the method used, younger female condom users are as much as 2.8 times more likely to experience contraceptive failure.
| Contraceptive | Age < 25 | Age > 25 |
|---|---|---|
| Implant | 0.6% | 0.6% |
| IUD | 1.1% | 3.2% |
| Injectable | 1.6% | 3.5% |
| The pill | 4.4% | 8.3% |
| Male condom | 5.4% | 8.9% |
| Withdrawal | 11.7% | 22.7% |
Why Condoms Fail
According to one study, women who are black, young, single, childless, or who engage in high-risk sexual activity are more likely to experience a broken condom.
On the other hand, the same study found that women with children are considerably less likely to have a condom break.
So why do some condoms fail and others don’t?
Below, we review a few statistics on why condoms fail, how to store condoms correctly, and what to do if you ever experience a broken condom.
- The strongest predictor of condom breakage was a woman’s experience using condoms.
- Women who have had a condom break in the past are likelier to experience a condom break a second time.
- Women who have used condoms without issue less than 5 times were more likely to have a condom break than those who have used condoms more than 30 times without problem.
Participants who had used condoms without problems fewer than five times were substantially more likely to have a condom break than were women who had used condoms more than 30 times without problems
How Can Condoms Break?
There are many reasons why a condom might fail. The four most common reasons for a condom breaking are:
- Improper applications of condoms on the penis.
- The use of an oil-based lubricant can deteriorate latex.
- Reusing a condom, which may be contaminated with semen.
- Longer duration and higher intensity intercourse.
Can A Condom Wrapper Break While It’s In Your Wallet?
- Yes, condom wrappers can break from being stored in your wallet.
- Even if a condom wrapper stays intact, improperly storing a condom in your wallet can cause the latex to deteriorate, increasing the likelihood of experiencing a broken condom.
- You should also never store condoms in a vehicle, especially if you live in regions that experience extreme cold or hot temperatures.
- Temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit can cause the material to degrade.
What Do You Do If A Condom Fails?
If you or your partner are concerned about a broken condom, you should speak with your primary care physician.
The emergency contraceptive levonorgestrel, commonly known as Plan B, can prevent pregnancy even after experiencing a broken condom or a condom that has slipped off during intercourse.
However, emergency contraceptive use will not protect you or your partner from potentially contracting a sexually transmitted infection.
- In the US, 11% of women aged 15 to 44 have used an emergency contraceptive at some point.
- When taken within 72 hours of intercourse, emergency contraceptives are up to 87% effective.
- Only 13 of 100 women who take emergency contraceptives will become pregnant.
- Emergency contraceptives are available over-the-counter or by prescription.
- You must take emergency contraceptives within 72 hours of intercourse.
- Some minor side-effects are associated with emergency contraceptives, such as heavier than usual bleeding, a late period, nausea, upset stomach, headaches, dizziness, and tender breasts.
- Taking emergency contraceptives with certain medications can decrease their effectiveness.
How Do You Avoid Condom Failure?
Even though no contraceptive is 100% effective, there are a handful of ways to avoid having a condom break during intercourse.
Above all, the best way to avoid condom failure is to educate yourself on the proper ways to apply, use, and dispose of condoms.
Let’s look at what else you can do!
- Using plenty of personal lubricants can help reduce friction and the likelihood of breakage.
- However, never use oil-based lubricants, such as petroleum jelly, coconut oil, or baby oil, with a condom.
- Only use silicone or water-based lubricants with latex condoms.
- All condoms are stamped with an expiration date. Using condoms past this date increases the likelihood of failure.
- Never open a condom package with your teeth or a sharp object, which might puncture or tear the condom before use.
- Remove and dispose of your condoms as soon as possible after ejaculation.
- Never reuse a condom.
About Katherin Winnick