Teenage pregnancies
Year of conception, ending 31 December 2022

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides an annual update on teenage pregnancy statistics in Scotland which are based on age at conception and presented by year of conception. The most recent information is for the calendar year ending 31 December 2022. The delay in reporting is due to the amount of time required for a conception to result in a birth or termination and for the relevant documentation to be recorded and validated.

Main points

• The teenage pregnancy rate in Scotland rose for the first time in over a decade, increasing from 23.2 per 1,000 women in 2021 to 27.1 in 2022. This is equivalent to 535 more pregnancies (3,756 compared to 3,221). This increase was mostly driven by pregnancies in those aged between 17 and 19 years.

Line chart showing teenage pregnancy rates per 1,000 women from 1994 to 2022 for each of the following age groups at conception: under 16, under 18 and under 20. Each age group is represented by a different colour of blue line.

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Teenage pregnancy by age group at conception, 1994-2022

• Rates increased in all mainland NHS board areas in 2022.
• It is important to note however, that the national teenage pregnancy rate in 2022 is lower than the rate observed in 2019 (27.7). It may be that the 2020 and 2021 rates represent a steeper decline than we would have experienced in the absence of Covid-19 related lockdowns and the 2022 rate is a slowing of the pre-pandemic downward trend.
• While both delivery and termination rates rose between 2021 and 2022, from 10.9 per 1,000 women to 11.8 and from 12.3 to 15.3 respectively, the termination rate saw the larger increase.
• Teenage pregnancy rate increases can be observed across all levels of deprivation in 2022. However, increases were greater in less deprived areas (SIMD 2 to 5) than in the most deprived (SIMD 1).
• Despite this, teenage pregnancy rates were more than three times higher for those living in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived areas in 2022.
• In keeping with stark differences in teenage pregnancy rates by deprivation, there was considerable variation in rates across local authorities from 45.5 per 1,000 women in Dundee City to 11.2 in East Dunbartonshire.

Background

The source data are (i) registrations of live and stillbirths from the National Records of Scotland, with multiple births counted as one event, and (ii) the number of terminations from the Termination of Pregnancy Submissions Scotland system.

Whilst for some young women a teenage pregnancy is a planned and positive life choice, for others it represents an unintended conception. Reducing unintended teenage pregnancy remains a priority for the Scottish Government.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be July 2025.