Teenage pregnancies reach rare low

The under-18 conception rate in 2010 was 35.5 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 17, compared with 38.3 in 2009 (a 7.3 per cent drop), according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data.

In 2010, there were 34,633 pregnancies among under-18s in England and Wales, down on the 38,259 in 2009.

The percentage of pregnancies leading to abortion among under-18s stood at 49.9 per cent, up on the 48.8 per cent the year before.

There were 6,674 pregnancies among under-16s in 2010, including 1,552 among 14-year-olds and 305 among under-14s – all down slightly on the previous year.

The data also showed that most babies are now conceived outside marriage, with 57.1 per cent of all conceptions outside marriages or civil partnerships.

In 2010, there were 519,163 such pregnancies, of which 30.9 per cent led to abortion.

Within marriages or civil partnerships, there were 390,082 pregnancies, of which 7.5 per cent led to abortion, but overall, the number of pregnancies across England and Wales is increasing.

A spokesman for the ONS said some may delay having families because of “financial concerns caused by the recession”.