A study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has shown that couples who use contraception have as much as three times more sex than couples who do not.

"Contraception is a tool that can separate sex from pregnancy. That can transform the role of sex in a relationship from just procreation to also enjoyment," said Suzanne Bell, an author of the findings released at a three-day family planning conference in Bali that ended on Thursday.

The researchers examined national health surveys in 47 low- to middle-income countries, with data on 210,000 women — all of them in relationships and in need of contraception.