OBJECTIVES: To estimate the prevalence of use of contraceptives methods in young poor people from a region of Colombia in 2014.  METHODS: A sample of 10.677 young poor people between 10-24 years old with public health insurance was extracted from a simple random sampling. A questionnaire was designed and applied to collect information regarding the sociodemographic characteristics of the young population and the use of family planning strategies. Results were analyzed using contingency tables. Fisher´s Xtest was used to estimate statistical significance.  RESULTS: From 10.677 young people, 26% reported to have sexual relations. The mean age of this group is 19 years (SD± 2.7 years). The prevalence of use of contraceptive methods in young people who have sexual relations is 94.9%. The most used contraceptive method is condom (65.1%), followed by contraceptive pills (24.8%). The remaining and least used methods are intrauterine devices, emergency contraceptives and subdermal implantable contraceptives (10.1%). From young people that use contraceptive methods, the majority are man (51.30%) and seek advice on family planning strategies in health institutions (52.7%). Having any level of education increases the probability of using contraceptive methods in 8.07 times (p=0.004) in contrast with those who does not have any level of education. Having knowledge of family planning strategies for young people increase the probability of using contraceptive methods in 1.48 times (p=0.027) in contrast with those who ignore family planning strategies. CONCLUSIONS: : Results show how public health insurance companies have made their efforts to improve the effective access of contraceptive methods in Colombia.