Background: In the 30 years since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, there is no clear consensus on how to best measure population-level contraceptive use and family planning program impact. Widely used metrics have evolved relatively slowly, and some have run counter to a rights-based and person-centered approach that emphasizes individuals’ self-identified contraceptive preferences.

Methods: In this report, we describe the utilization of an understudied family planning measure—women’s expressed intent to use (ITU) contraceptives within the next year—and explore its implications for population-level standardized comparisons and family planning programs using the Performance Monitoring for Action program data in 10 low- and middle-income geographies. Specifically, we assess the extent to which ITU captures women’s near-term contraceptive needs and how it differs from the traditional demand measure of “unmet need.”

Results: Building off the “demand satisfied” indicator—which itself is derived from the concept of “unmet need,” we propose a new person-centered metric, “intent satisfied,” to provide point estimates of population-level contraceptive use that more closely align with women’s stated needs.

Conclusions: We also discuss the limitations of the “intent satisfied” metric, making recommendations for data efforts to improve and include ITU as a routinely reported family planning indicator.