How effective are condoms at preventing pregnancy?

In an absolutely perfect world, condoms are really effective at preventing pregnancy—around 98%. But typical use, that means how real people use them in real life, they’re only around 87% effective, which is a big difference.

In other words:

For people who use condoms exactly as directed for a whole year, about 2 in 100 will get pregnant when they don’t want to during the first year they use condoms.

For people who do not use condoms exactly as directed for a whole year, about 13 in 100 will get pregnant when they don’t want to during the first year they use condoms.