Despite the great amount of resources invested in family planning programs around the world and the considerable attention given to appraising their effects, little has been written about the analysis of family planning costs. Indeed, costs often seem to be virtually ignored. In the likely event that the growth of resources available for financing family planning programs in the future ceases to be as high as the expansion in demand for family planning, pressures will develop for better ways of evaluating family planning costs. This paper considers two major methodological issues—what should be included in family planning costs and what is the most practically useful classification. First, we recommend the use of a complete, inclusive concept of economic costs, including the imputation of costs of ‘free’ or donated inputs. Second, a classification of costs into administrative, motivational and contraceptive is suggested. The location of the usual types of family planning in these categories is then indicated.

Both the concept of economic costs and their three-fold classification are illustrated with detailed data on the family program in Barbados from its inception in 1955 through 1974.