How effective is the ring at preventing pregnancy?

Depending on the type of ring you use and how consistently you change the ring on time, it can be very effective at preventing pregnancy. With perfect use, it’s 97- 99% effective. The way it’s typically used, though, it’s around 93% effective.

In other words:

Of those who use the monthly ring exactly as directed for a whole year, fewer than 1 in 100 will get pregnant when they don’t want to during the first year of using the ring. If you are using the yearly birth control ring perfectly, it’s slightly less effective—97%.

Of those who do not use the monthly ring exactly as directed, 7 in 100 will get pregnant when they don’t want to during the first year of using the ring. For the yearly ring, we don’t have enough data to know the difference between perfect and typical use rates.