A sharp increase in over- the-counter sales of the morning-after pill was disclosed by the Office for National Statistics yesterday in a report which shows that more women are obtaining emergency contraception without going to see their GPs.

The report said that a Department of Health survey showed that more than one in 20 women aged 16 to 49 used emergency contraception on at least one occasion last year.

About half of them mentioned condom failure as the reason why they needed to do so.

Until 2001 a woman wanting the morning-after pill had to request it through a GP, but in the past three years supplies have become available at pharmacies, walk-in centres and minor injuries units.

The proportion of users supplied from these sources increased from 21% in 2001-02 to 38% in 2003-04.

And the proportion of women experiencing problems in obtaining supplies fell from 13% to 4%.

But easier availability did not lead to increased use of emergency contraception. The ONS said 6% of women under 50 used the morning-after pill last year, compared with 7% in the previous two years and 8% in 2000-01.

A spokeswoman for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service said: "The next logical step would be to allow women to buy emergency contraception in advance of need from their local pharmacy."

The ONS said 52% of women aged 16 to 49 used the pill, condoms or other non-surgical method of contraception.

A quarter of women used no form of contraception - most of them were not in a heterosexual relationship.

Six per cent of men and women said they now had fewer one-night stands and 3% of women and 7% of men said they had tests for sexually transmitted infections when they changed partners.