What does it mean when the statistics say that condoms are, at best, 98% effective.
It sounds like 1/50 times a condom is used, it won’t prevent pregnancy. But this doesn’t seem right because those stats wouldn’t be worth the risk.
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It’s 2% chance per year of a couple using condoms as their only birth control, not 2% per usage.
The statistics are less clear on the exact reasons for that – if you ask people to self report whether they are using a condom properly, they tend to answer yes even if they aren’t. So the long term studies that measure failure rate aren’t generally able to address failure cause.
But the studies that do attempt to address that tend to result in misuse being a factor. These generally take the form of either asking someone to put on a condom in a lab setting and seeing how many screw it up or surveying about specific practices during sex that run afoul of proper condom use (ex: opening the packet with teeth, oil based lube, etc.).
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