How are condoms only 98% effective?

Question

Everywhere I find on the internet says that condoms, when used properly and don’t break, are only 98% effective.

That means if you have sex once a week you’re just as well off as having no protection once a year.

Are 2% of condoms randomly selected to have holes poked in them?

What’s going on?

In: Biology

Answer 1

This is a marketing scapegoat. Like toothpaste that kills 99.9% of bacteria. It allows the company to remove liability if they don’t say it is 100% effective and then something goes wrong.