Two hundred rural women with history of stainless steel ring (SSR) intrauterine devices (IUD) failure (i.e. expulsion or pregnancy with IUD-in-situ) were randomly allocated into Multiload Cu250 (MLCu250) or VCu200 group. The follow up rate was 97.5% at the end of 5-year. The 5-year gross cumulative continuation rates per 100 women for MLCu250 and VCu200 were 80.0 and 81.7 respectively. The 5-year cumulative expulsion rate was significantly lower in MLCu250 group (1.0) than that in VCu200 group (8.1) (P < 0.05), while the pregnancy rate was higher in MLCu group (12.0 vs. 4.1) but no statistical significant difference existed between the 2 groups. The removal for bleeding and (or) pain were similar (6.0 and 6.1). There was one ectopic pregnancy in each group and no removal for medical or personal reasons. The expulsion and pregnancy cases in the present study were not associated with their previous failures. It was concluded that both types of copper IUD were effective for women with previous failure of SSR. The study also showed that MLCu250 might be used as long as 5 years. Should surface area of copper be increased, further decreased pregnancy rate would be expected.