The Office for National Statistics has published its annual statistics around the conception rates in England and Wales for 2018.
The data found that 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. It also found that for the third year in a row, women aged 40 years and over were the only age group to see an increase in conception rates.
In addition, although conception rates for women under 18-year-olds have more than halved in the last decade, they remain twice as high in more deprived areas of England. However, the analysis shows that a smaller proportion of these conceptions lead to abortions for under 18-year-olds living in more deprived areas.
Key findings:
- 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%.
- For the third year in a row, women aged 40 years and over were the only age group to see an increase in conception rates.
- The conception rate for women under 18 years decreased for the 11th year in a row, the longest continued decrease since records began.
- The percentage of conceptions leading to a legal abortion among all women resident in England and Wales increased from 22.7% in 2017 to 24.0% in 2018, the highest percentage since records began in 1990.
- In 2018, the conception rate for women under 18 years was higher in the 50% most deprived areas in England, while the percentage of conceptions leading to a legal abortion was higher in the 50% least deprived areas in England.
Number of conceptions and conception rates
- For the third consecutive year, the estimated number of conceptions in England and Wales decreased in 2018, falling by nearly 1.0% to 839,043 from 847,204 in 2017.
- The number of conceptions indicate that births and birth rates, available later this year, are likely to have continued to decline in 2019.
- In 2018, the overall conception rate fell from 76.1 conceptions per 1000 women aged 15 to 44 years, to 75.4 conceptions, a 0.9% decrease. This rate has been decreasing almost every year since 2011, with the exceptions of 2014 and 2015. The overall conception rate has not been this low since 2004 when there were 74.9 conceptions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 years.
Age at conception
- For the third consecutive year, women aged 40 years and over was the only age group where the conception rate increased, with 16.3 conceptions per 1000 women aged over 40 years, in 2018.
- Compared with 1990, conception rates for women aged 30 years and over have increased while rates for women aged under 30 years have decreased. This reflects the trends that women are progressively delaying childbearing until older ages.
Teenage conceptions
- In 2018, conception rates for under 18-year-olds in England and Wales declined by 6.1% to 16.8 conceptions per 1000 women aged 15 to 17 years.
- Since 1999, conception rates for women aged under 18 years have decreased by 62.7%.
- Conception rates also declined from 2.7 conceptions per 1000 women aged under 16 years in 2017 to 2.5 in 2018, a 7.4% decrease. This has fallen every year since 2007, and has decreased by 69.9% since 1999.
Conceptions leading to legal abortions
- The percentage of conceptions leading to a legal abortion percentage also increased from 22.7% in 2017 to 24.0% in 2018, which is the highest percentage since records began and increased in all regions of England over the last decade.
- For the first time since 2013, the percentage of conceptions leading to a legal abortion increased for every age group.
- In 2018, the highest increase was recorded among women aged 20 to 24 years (1.8 percentage points) and the lowest among those under 16 years (0.9 percentage points).
- In 2018, the South West had the lowest percentage of conceptions leading to a legal abortion (21.6%), while London remained the region with the highest percentage of conceptions leading to a legal abortion (27.1%).
- Although the North East had the third lowest overall conception rate in 2018, it has had the highest rate of conception to women under 18 years among English regions since 2003. In 2018, it increased to 24.9 conceptions per 1000 women aged 15 to 17 years.
- The South West replaced the South East as the region with the lowest rate, with 13.3 conceptions per 1,000 women aged 15 to 17 years in 2018.
Conceptions by Index of Multiple Deprivation
- Conception rates for the most deprived areas in England have decreased more than the least deprived areas since 2010.
- In 2018, there were 82.4 conceptions per 1000 women usually resident in the 50% most deprived areas in England, a decrease of 8.8% compared with 2010.
- In contrast, there were 67.5 conceptions per 1000 women usually resident in the 50% least deprived areas, a decrease of only 2.2% compared with 2010.
- Since 2010, the conception rate for women under 18 years has halved in both the most and least deprived areas in England. As a result, conception rates for women under 18 years remain more than twice as high in the most deprived areas.
- In 2018, there were 23.6 conceptions per 1000 women aged 15 to 17 years usually resident in the most deprived areas of England, whereas there were 9.5 conceptions per 1000 women aged 15 to 17 years in the least deprived areas of England.
Conceptions by area of usual residence
- Since 2009, conception rates have declined in all English regions apart from the North West, where the rate increased from 79.2 conceptions per 1000 women of childbearing age to 79.8 in 2018.
- Although London still has the highest conception rate at 80.0 conceptions per 1000 women aged 15 to 44 years, it is also the region where conception rates have declined the most over the last decade.
- Middlesbrough continues to be the local authority with the highest conception rate for women under 18-year-olds, even though it saw a 10% decrease in 2018.