Teenage pregnancies in Scotland fall to lowest level on record

Teenage pregnancies in Scotland are at their lowest level since current records began in 1994.

Rates have been decreasing for 10 years and figures just released show the gap in teenage pregnancies between the most and least deprived areas is narrowing.

The figures, for 2017, also show 45% of teenage pregnancies were terminated - the highest level ever reported.

Teenagers from the least deprived areas were more likely to terminate their pregnancy.

Across Scotland as a whole, the rate of teenage pregnancy fell from 31.7 per 1,000 women in 2016 to 30.2 in 2017.

That compares with 57.7 per 1,000 in 2007, when there were 9,362 teenage pregnancies.

In a decade, that number fell to 4,276 - with under-16s accounting for just 4.5% of pregnancies, and the majority (69%) among those aged 18 and 19.

NHS Grampian recorded the lowest overall rate of teenage pregnancy (23.8 per 1,000) in 2017, while NHS Fife recorded the highest (37.0 per 1,000).