This paper critically reviews the methods for measuring the impact of family planning programs on fertility used primarily in the last decade, based on the literature as well as site visits and interviews. The strengths and weakness of several acceptor-based and population-based methods are evaluated for use in particular settings. The acceptor- based methods include: reproductive process analysis, standard couple- years of protection (SCYP), CYP, individual matching and component projection (CONVERSE). The population-based methods are: decomposition (standardization), trend analysis, prevalence, areal regression, multilevel regression and experimental design. Current evaluations are focusing on identification of the aspects of programs that have an impact, their interaction, and their relative importance in different settings. Except for the use of CYP in several Asian programs to monitor performance of the program, population-based methods are in vogue recently. Reasons for their popularity are the availability of national survey data, microcomputers and software such as TARGET, and the need for target setting in country policy. Areal and multilevel regression and experimental design are the methods receiving the most attention. The success of the Matlab project has stimulated interest in experimental design.