Fall in teenage pregnancies

24th February 2011 - The number of teenage pregnancies in England and Wales fell by 7.5% in 2009 compared to the previous year.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show there were 38,259 conceptions among under-18s in 2009 compared with 41,361 the year before.

Of these, nearly half (48.8%) had an abortion.

Lowest teenage pregnancy rates since 1980s

The latest provisional figures mean that pregnancies in under 18s have fallen to levels not see since the early 1980s.

Taking women of all ages into account, the number of pregnancies increased in 2009 with an estimated 896,300 conceptions in England and Wales, compared with 888,600 in 2008, a rise of 0.9 per cent.

Pregnancies went up in all age groups except in women under the age of 25. The largest percentage increase was seen in women aged 30 to 34 where rates rose by 3.5%. Among women aged between 35 and 39, pregnancies increased by 3.4%, the statistics show.

Pregnancies among those aged between 15 and 19 dropped to 57.3 from 60.1 per thousand women between the two years, a fall of 4.7%. Pregnancies among women under 20 have fallen in seven out of the last 10 years.

There were similar falls in pregnancies among young teenage girls. The number of under 16s getting pregnant fell 5.6% from 7,586 in 2008 to 7,158 in 2009. Nearly three-quarters of those conceptions were to girls aged 15. Three-fifths (59.8%) of under 16s who got pregnant in 2009 had an abortion.

The figures also show a long term rise in the number of pregnancies occurring among single women and those outside a legal partnership. In 2009 conceptions outside a legal partnership accounted for 57%, compared with 42% in 1989.

Government abandoned targets

Although the figures are encouraging, they fail to match a target by the last Labour government to cut teenage pregnancies by half by 2010. The Family Planning Association (FPA) criticised the decision by the Coalition government to abandon that target. Julie Bentley, the FPA’s Chief Executive, said in a statement: “The success brought about by today’s figures revealing that we're seeing the lowest teenage pregnancy in England and Wales for thirty years is down to a dedicated strategy in England with a tried and tested formula of sex and relationships education, contraception and information services and local services working together. However, the fact that the strategy no longer exists is a significant cause for concern and so the Government must examine how to keep this tremendous momentum going.”

A Department of Health spokesperson told us by email: “Later this year we will publish a new sexual health strategy which will include our priorities for improving sexual health.”