Conceptions in England and Wales: 2018

Commenting on today’s figures David Corps, Vital Statistics Outputs Branch, Office for National Statistics said:

"In 2018, the conception rate in England and Wales fell to its lowest level since 2004, while the proportion that led to a legal abortion increased to its highest point since records began in 1990.

"Although conception rates for women under 18 years have more than halved in the last decade, they remain twice as high in more deprived areas of England than less deprived areas. However, analysis shows that a smaller proportion of these conceptions lead to abortions for under 18s living in more deprived areas."

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Main points

• In 2018, there were an estimated 839,043 conceptions to women of all ages in England and Wales compared with 847,204 in 2017, a decrease of nearly 1.0%.
• The conception rate for women under 18 years decreased for the 11th year in a row, the longest continued decrease since records began.

Go to Conception data for Wirral - in our This is Wirral: Population document