Lockdown teenage pregnancies plunge by a quarter

TEENAGE pregnancies plummeted in the first national lockdown, official figures suggest.

There were 2,600 conceptions among girls aged under 18 between April and June last year after lockdown was imposed in England and Wales.

This was down 27.7 per cent on the previous three months, when 3,597 pregnancies were recorded. This is the lowest number of conceptions in a single quarter in more than 20 years.

The North West was the region with the highest number of conceptions to under-18s, followed by the South East and Yorkshire and the Humber, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Teenage pregnancies have seen a sustained decline over the past two decades, with about 11,000 recorded each quarter just before the turn of the century. The figures during the pandemic included pregnancies that resulted in births, stillbirths and abortions.

A spokesman for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service said the continued decline in teenage pregnancy “is related to changing teen lifestyles and social interactions”.