 An estimated 180 million women worldwide have undergone surgical sterilization, compared to approximately 42.5 million men who have undergone vasectomy.In the United States, female sterilization is used by 30% of married couples and 22% of women who use any form of contraception, making it the second-most popular contraceptive after the birth control pill.Slightly more than 8.2 million women in the US use tubal ligation as their main form of contraception, and approximately 643,000 female sterilization procedures are performed each year in the United States.