Teenage pregnancy in the United Kingdom

[11] High teenage pregnancy rates are found in areas with low GCSE examination success, such as Nottingham, Kingston upon Hull, Doncaster, Barnsley, Middlesbrough, Manchester (highest), Nuneaton, Sandwell, Bristol, Stoke on Trent, Bradford, North East Lincolnshire, and Blackpool.

A survey of women seeking an abortion by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service revealed that almost two-fifths of parents of single, pregnant, teenage girls were unaware of their daughters' pregnancy, the majority of these being to teenagers who were not living at home.

This is believed to be the first known case in Britain where an under-age girl was able to obtain a legal abortion without the consent of her parent/s.

[14] 2006: Mother of two teenage daughters Sue Axon lost her battle in the high court to try and prevent under-age girls from seeking an abortion without their parents' permission.

[18][19] Statistics from the Department Of Health for the three-year period 2006 to 2008 showed that the area with the highest rate of abortion in girls under 16 in England and Wales was in the Southwark Primary Care Organisation (PCO) at a rate of 9.2 per 1000 girls in the population aged 13–15.

At the end of the Second World War, the proportion of teenage births born outside marriage had almost doubled from the beginning of the decade to a third.

1964: The number of births to women of all ages had risen 11% since 1960 to a post-World War II high of almost 900,000.

[21] 1973: Although the overall teenage birth rate for England and Wales had peaked in 1971, the number born to under-16s had continued to rise, to over 1,700.

[22] 1975: With the legalisation of abortion and better availability of contraception, the number of pregnant teenage brides had declined by 37% since 1970.

However, the proportion of teenage births occurring outside marriage continued to rise to almost one-in-three.

With the legalisation of abortion came a drop in the number of illegitimate children being adopted, from a peak of over 19,000 in 1968 down to almost 9,000.

[23] Much of this was due to the decline in the stigma attached to having a baby outside marriage and an increase in cohabitation among unmarried couples.

However, the number of births occurring to under 16s in England and Wales increased to over 1,600, the highest level since the early-1970s, with another 160 in Scotland.

2001: The Census showed that half of all teenagers with children were lone parents, 40% were cohabiting as a couple, and 10% were married.

[30] 2008: The number of births to girls under 20 in England and Wales was 44,690, a provisional rate of 26.2 per thousand teenage women in the population.

The verified statistics presented here use the age of a girl at the outcome of her pregnancy (either birth or abortion).