 After the war , condom sales continued to grow . From 1955 – 1965 , 42 % of Americans of reproductive age relied on condoms for birth control . In Britain from 1950 – 1960 , 60 % of married couples used condoms . The birth control pill became the world 's most popular method of birth control in the years after its 1960 <unk> , but condoms remained a strong second . The U.S. Agency for International Development pushed condom use in developing countries to help solve the " world population <unk> " : by 1970 hundreds of millions of condoms were being used each year in India alone . ( This number has grown in recent decades : in 2004 , the government of India purchased 1 @.@ 9 billion condoms for distribution at family planning clinics . ) 
