Pregnancy, births and maternity: teenage pregnancy

The data below are taken from PHS Teenage pregnancy statistics, unless otherwise stated.

 

The overall teenage pregnancy rate is counted as the number of deliveries combined with the number of terminations. It does not include miscarriages. Available information is used to estimate age at the likely time of conception. The information presented here firstly details the overall teenage pregnancy rate, before describing in more detail, teenage pregnancy outcomes (delivery and termination rates). 

 

  • In 2022, the teenage pregnancy rate in Scotland rose for the first time in over a decade, increasing from 23.2 per 1,000 women and girls in 2021 to 27.1 in 2022. This is equivalent to 535 more pregnancies (3,756 compared to 3,221). The increase seen in 2022 was mostly driven by pregnancies in women aged 17, 18 and 19 at conception. Numbers and rates remained stable for women aged under 17 (accounting for around a third of teenage pregnancies).

 

  • It is important to note however, that the national teenage pregnancy rate in 2022 is lower than the rate observed in 2019 (27.7). It may be that the 2020 and 2021 rates represent a steeper decline than we would have experienced in the absence of Covid-19 related lockdowns and the 2022 rate is a slowing of the pre-pandemic downward trend.

 

  • The increase in Scotland's teenage pregnancy rate in 2022 was mostly driven by pregnancies which ended in termination. In terms of numbers, there were 1,631 deliveries (118 more than 2021) and 2,125 terminations (417 more than 2021). The proportion of 56.6% of teenage pregnancies ending in termination in 2022 is the highest since reporting began.
  • Teenage pregnancy rate increases were observed across all levels of deprivation in 2022. In 2022, those living in the areas of highest deprivation (SIMD quintile 1) had teenage pregnancy rates more than three times higher than those in the least deprived areas (SIMD quintile 5) at 45.9 compared to 13 per 1,000 women. However, increases in teenage pregnancies were greater in less deprived areas (SIMD quintiles 2 to 5) than in the most deprived (SIMD quintile 1). Despite this, teenage pregnancy rates were more than three times higher for those living in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived areas in 2022.