Statistical Publication Notice
June 30 2009
INTRODUCTION
A number of teenage girls experience unintended or unwanted pregnancies, although for some young people pregnancy 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 the most deprived areas around four times more than those of the least deprived areas.
The national target for teenage pregnancy reduction is:
KEY POINTS
The teenage pregnancy rate has been fairly steady for the past decade. In 2007, in the under 16 age group there were 8.1pregnancies per 1,000, the same rate as 2006. The rates in the older age groups have risen slightly with the under 18s rising from 41.5 per 1,000 in 2006 to 42.4 per 1,000 in 2007 and the under 20s from 57.9 per 1,000 to 58.6 per 1,000.
In mainland NHS boards in 2007, NHS Highland recorded the lowest rate of teenage pregnancy in the under 16 age group (5.8 per 1,000) and Borders recorded the lowest rate of teenage pregnancies in the under 18 age group (26.7 per 1,000) and also in the under 20 age group (45.2 per 1,000).
NHS Tayside has the highest teenage pregnancy rates across all three age groups with a rate of 12.1 per 1,000 for the under 16s, 55.3 per 1,000 for under 18s and 74.9 per 1,000 for the under 20s.
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 risen slightly but still remains considerably lower than the delivery rate. In the under 16 year age group the abortion rate has been higher than the delivery rate since 2001.
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 (70.4 per 1,000 and 8.3 per 1,000) and nearly twice the rate of abortion (31.0 per 1,000 and 17.3 per 1,000) These proportions have not varied much over the most recently available eight years, and do not vary much with age.
INTERPRETATION
The teenage pregnancy rate is counted as the number of deliveries combined with the number of abortions. It does not include miscarriages. Available information is used to estimate the woman’s age at the likely time of conception.
In 2006, ISD introduced a new method of calculating teenage pregnancy information. Details of these changes are available on the Teenage Pregancy webpages at http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/4953.html. This approach means that the Scottish teenage pregnancy rates can be directly compared with the rates published for England (http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/teenagepregnancy/). The method has been applied to all years to allow comparability over the whole period presented.
These data are based on age at conception and year of conception. The data might initally appear to be out-of-date. However data can only be derived once the pregnancy has either been aborted or delivered. As we may not know about a conception until the time of delivery this introduces a time delay between conception and reporting For example, if a conception happens in December 2007, the baby may not be born until September 2008 and the information not collated until the beginning of 2009.
Data are presented by calendar year.
The numerators used in the age groups are:
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<16 includes women aged less than 16.</div />
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<18 includes women aged less than 18 (including <16s)</div />
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<20 includes women aged less than 20 (including <16s and <18s).</div />
Denominators used to calculate rates are:
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<16 rates, women aged 13-15.</div />
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<18 rates, women aged 15-17.</div />
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<20 rates, women aged 15-19.</div />
Local Council Area numbers and rates for age groups <16 and <18 are shown as three year moving aggregates. This has been done to reduce the risk of disclosure (the chance of inadvertently identifying an individual) and to smooth out the fluctuations resulting from small numbers.</p />
DETAILED FINDINGS
Teenage Pregnancy in Scotland: 1994 to 2007
The teenage pregnancy rate has been fairly steady for the past decade. In 2007, in the under 16 age group there were 8.1pregnancies per 1,000, the same rate as 2006. The rates in the older age groups have risen slightly with the under 18s rising from 41.5 per 1,000 in 2006 to 42.4 per 1,000 in 2007 and the under 20s from 57.9 per 1,000 to 58.6 per 1,000.
In mainland NHS boards in 2007, NHS Highland recorded the lowest rate of teenage pregnancy in the under 16 age group (5.8 per 1,000) and Borders recorded the lowest rate of teenage pregnancies in the under 18 age group (26.7 per 1,000) and also in the under 20 age group (45.2 per 1,000).
NHS Tayside has the highest teenage pregnancy rates across across all three age groups with a rate of 12.1 per 1,000 for the under 16s, 55.3 per 1,000 for under 18s and 74.9 per 1,000 for the under 20s.
In mainland council areas, for the three year period 2005/07, Argyll and Bute recorded the lowest rate of teenage pregnancy (3.0 per 1,000) in the under 16 group and East Renfrewshire Council in under 18 year olds (20.1 per 1,000). Dundee City Council had the highest teenage pregnancy rate in both these age groups, 18.6 per 1,000 in the under 16 age group and 77.7 per 1,000 in under 18s. In 2007, the lowest and highest rates in the under 20 age group in mainland council areas are 29.8 per 1,000 in Stirling and 96.3 in Dundee City Council.
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 risen slightly but still remains considerably lower than the delivery rate. In the under 16 year age group the abortion rate has been higher than the delivery rate since 2001.
In 2007, in mainland NHS board areas, the delivery rate in the under 20 age group was highest in Tayside and lowest in Grampian NHS board areas (42.2 and 26.2 per 1,000, respectively). The abortion rate was highest in Tayside and lowest in the Borders NHS board areas (32.7 and 18.2 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 (70.4 per 1,000 and 8.3 per 1,000) and nearly twice the rate of abortion (31.0 per 1,000 and 17.3 per 1,000) These proportions have not varied much over the most recently available eight years, and do not vary much with age.
In the most deprived areas in 2007 the rate of teenage pregnancies in the under 16 age group was more than 4 times the rate in the least deprived areas (15.0 per 1,000 and 3.2 per 1,000 respectively). A similar pattern was also present in the under 18 age group, with 80.3 per 1,000 in the most deprived group and 18.7 per 1,000 in the least deprived. Within the under 20 age group the rates were 101.4 within the most deprived groups and 25.6 per 1,000 within the least deprived.
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MAIN CONTACTS:
Jim Chalmers
Head of Programme
Consultant in Public Health Medicine
jim.chalmers@nhs.net
0131 275 6136
Kenny McIntyre
Information Analyst
Maternity & Neonatal Team
k.mcintyre@nhs.net
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GLOSSARY:
Disclosure: inadvertently identifying an individual
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PRE-RELEASE ACCESS TO THIS PUBLICATION WAS GIVEN TO:
Under terms of the ?Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics (Scotland) Order 2008?, ISD are obliged to publish information on those receiving Pre-Release Access (?Pre-Release Access? refers to statistics in their final form prior to publication). The standard maximum Pre-Release Access is five working days. Shown below are details of those receiving standard Pre-Release Access and, separately, those receiving extended Pre-Release Access.
Standard (five day) Pre-Release Access:
Scottish Government Health Department (Analytical Services Division)
NHS Board Chief Executives
NHS Board Communication leads
Extended Pre-Release Access:
Scottish Government Health Department (Analytical Services Division)
This extended Pre-Release Access is given to a small number of named individuals in the Scottish Government Health Department (Analytical Services Division). This Pre-Release Access is for the sole purpose of enabling that department to gain an understanding of the statistics prior to briefing others in Scottish Government (during the period of standard Pre-Release Access).
Scottish Government: ASD Health
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HISTORY OF THIS PUBLICATION:
Last Published: 24/06/2008
Next Due: 29/06/2010
Data Avaliable Since: 1983 for data derived from SMR01/SMR02 - 2007 for data derived from GRO(S) & AAS
Jim Chalmers 
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