Introduction
A number of teenage girls experience unintended or unwanted pregnancies, although for some young people this is a positive life decision. With a higher rate of teenage pregnancy than most other western European countries, reducing unintended teenage pregnancy is a national target for the Scottish Government. Teenage pregnancy is also linked to deprivation with the rates of teenage pregnancy in deprived areas more that treble those of the least deprived areas.
Teenage pregnancy targets
- Reduce by 20% the pregnancy rate (per 1000 population) in under 16 year olds from 8.5 in 1995 to 6.8 in 2010.
These webpages present data on teenage pregnancies, with the most recent information representing conceptions in 2008, for age groups under 16, under 18 and under 20.
The main tables and charts show the number and rate of pregnancies in women under the age of twenty, based on data derived from birth and stillbirth registrations, and from therapeutic abortions notified in accordance with the Abortion Act 1967.
Teenage Pregnancy 2008 (last updated June 2010)
The teenage pregnancy rate has been fairly steady for the past decade. In 2008, in the under 16 age group there were 7.9 pregnancies per 1,000, down from 8.1 in 2007. The rates in the older age groups have also reduced, with the under 18s dropping from 42.4 per 1,000 in 2007 to 40.4 per 1,000 in 2008 and the under 20s from 58.6 per 1,000 to 55.7 per 1,000.
In mainland NHS boards in 2008, NHS Borders recorded the lowest rate of teenage pregnancy in all three age groups. The rate in the under 16 age group was 4.9 per 1,000, for the under 18 age group it is 30.0 per 1,000 and in the under 20 age group it was 44.6 per 1,000.
NHS Ayrshire and Arran has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in 2008 for under 16s at 10.8 per 1,000. In the under 18 and under 20 age groups the highest rates were seen in NHS Tayside with rates of 51.8 per 1,000 and 65.0 per 1,000 recorded respectively.
In mainland council areas, for the three year period 2006/08 the lowest rates of teenage pregnancy were recorded in East Dunbartonshire Council (3.0 per 1,000) for the under 16s and in East Renfrewshire Council in under 18 year olds (17.4 per 1,000). Dundee City Council had the highest teenage pregnancy rate in both these age groups, 17.6 per 1,000 in the under 16 age group and 76.4 per 1,000 in under 18s. In 2008, the lowest and highest rates in the under 20 age group in mainland council areas are 26.2 per 1,000 in East Renfrewshire and 78.7 per 1,000 in Dundee City Council, down from 96.3 per 1,000 in 2007.
Over the years there has been a change in the balance between teenage conceptions which are aborted and those which continue to delivery. In the under 18 and under 20 age groups the rate of abortion has fallen slightly but still remains considerably lower than the delivery rate. The delivery rates in the under 18 and 20 groups are the lowest since 1994. In the under 16 year age group the abortion rate has been higher than the delivery rate since 2001.
In 2008, in mainland NHS board areas, the delivery rate in the under 20 age group was highest in Ayrshire and Arran and lowest in Grampian NHS board areas (43.3 and 25.0 per 1,000, respectively). The abortion rate was highest in Tayside and lowest in the Highland NHS board areas (27.0 and 17.5 per 1,000 respectively).
There is a strong deprivation gradient. In the under 20s, the most deprived groups have approximately ten times the rate of delivery as the least deprived (67.3 per 1,000 and 7.2 per 1,000) and nearly twice the rate of abortion (29.4 per 1,000 and 16.6 per 1,000). These proportions have not varied much over the most recently available nine years, and do not vary much with age.
In the most deprived areas in 2008 the rate of teenage pregnancies in the under 16 age group was more than 4 times the rate in the least deprived areas (14.6 per 1,000 and 3.2 per 1,000 respectively). A similar pattern was also present in the under 18 age group, with 69.4 per 1,000 in the most deprived group and 17.7 per 1,000 in the least deprived. Within the under 20 age group the rates were 96.7 within the most deprived groups and 23.8 per 1,000 within the least deprived.
Other documents
Teenage Pregnancy Statistical Publication Notice (SPN)
Teenage Pregnancy Notes on Interpretation 
[32KB]
Teenage Pregnancy Background Notes [44KB]
Teenage Pregnancy Metadata Document 
[12KB]
Teenage Pregnancy (change of method/data sources 2007) 
[148KB]
