Introduction

Teenage conceptions refers to conceptions to young women under the age of 18.

Research evidence, particularly from longitudinal studies, shows that teenage pregnancy is associated with poorer outcomes for both young parents and their children. Teenage mothers are less likely to finish their education, are more likely to bring up their child alone and in poverty and have a higher risk of poor mental health than older mothers. Infant mortality rates for babies born to teenage mothers are around 60% higher than for babies born to older mothers. The children of teenage mothers have an increased risk of living in poverty and poor quality housing and are more likely to have accidents and behavioural problems.

Most teenage pregnancies are unplanned and around half end in an abortion. As well as it being an avoidable experience for the young woman, abortions represent an avoidable cost to the NHS. And while for some young women having a child when young can represent a positive turning point in their lives, for many more teenagers bringing up a child is extremely difficult and often results in poor outcomes for both the teenage parent and the child, in terms of the baby’s health, the mother’s emotional health and well-being and the likelihood of both the parent and child living in long-term poverty. (Public Health Outcomes Framework, 2023)

Data Overview

Over the last 25 years, the rate of teenage conceptions has reduced drastically across England. There has been a reduction in rate of 72%, down from 46.6 per 1,000 in 1998 to 13.1 per 1,000 in 2021. Rates across the North West, Greater Manchester and Oldham have all followed a similar percentage reduction, however rates remain higher. The current rate of reduction in teenage conceptions suggests Oldham is around 6 years behind national improvements (figure 1).

Figure 1: Conceptions to under 18s trend
Source: ONS Conceptions in England and Wales, 2023

Table 1: Conceptions to under 18s, rate per 1,000
Year	Oldham	Greater Manchester	North West	England
1998	66.1	54.5	50.3	46.6
1999	57	53.3	48.8	44.8
2000	53	51.3	47.5	43.6
2001	59.3	51.6	45.1	42.5
2002	55.3	49.9	45.4	42.8
2003	54.3	52.3	45.2	42.1
2004	58.7	52.6	46	41.6
2005	46.9	53.5	46.9	41.4
2006	43.7	50.7	44.2	40.6
2007	45.8	50.9	46.6	41.4
2008	39.9	49.4	44.8	39.7
2009	41.3	46.6	42.6	37.1
2010	39.8	41.6	39.6	34.2
2011	36.5	37.8	35.3	30.7
2012	33.1	33.3	31.6	27.7
2013	30.6	28.3	27.6	24.3
2014	34.6	27.7	26.8	22.8
2015	22	24.1	24.7	20.8
2016	26.9	22.3	22.4	18.8
2017	25.7	21.4	21.9	17.8
2018	27.5	21.5	21.7	16.7
2019	21.2	19.3	19.4	15.7
2020	25	17.1	16.7	13
2021	20.5	16.9	16.4	13.1
Source: ONS Conceptions in England and Wales, 2023

Oldham's latest rate of teenage conceptions is 20.5 per 1,000. This is higher than the Greater Manchester average (16.9 per 1,000), the North West average (16.4 per 1,000) and the England rate (13.1 per 1,000). Oldham's rate for the latest year is 4th highest across Greater Manchester. Salford has the highest rate at 28.5 per 1,000 and Trafford the lowest at 7.8 per 1,000 (figure 2).

Figure 2: Conceptions to under 18s across Greater Manchester
Source: ONS Conceptions in England and Wales, 2023

Over the last 25 years, the rate of abortions to under 18s has reduced significantly. The rate in Oldham has reduced by 60%. This is similar to the national decrease (-65%) and larger than the reductions seen regionally (-53%) and across Greater Manchester (-51%). Rates began to decrease across all areas around 2008/9 and have been on a steady decline since.

Latest data (2021) reveals Oldham's rate of abortions to under 18s is 8.7 per 1,000. This is higher than the England rate of 7 per 1,000 but lower than the North West (9.2 per 1,000) and Greater Manchester (9.4 per 1,000) averages (figure 3).

Figure 3: Abortions to under 18s trend
Source: ONS Conceptions in England and Wales, 2023

Table 2: Abortions to under 18s, rate per 1,000, 1998 to 2021
Year	Oldham	Greater Manchester	North West	England
1998	21.7	19.1	19.4	19.8
1999	20.4	19.1	19.5	19.5
2000	20.6	20.2	19.8	19.6
2001	23.2	21	19.4	19.6
2002	17.8	19	19.1	19.6
2003	21.4	21.6	19	19.4
2004	22.8	21.2	19.5	19.2
2005	19.7	22.6	20.3	19.4
2006	20.1	22.7	20.2	19.8
2007	20.2	24	22.8	20.9
2008	16.7	23.3	21.9	19.7
2009	23.2	22.9	20.7	18.2
2010	20.2	20.2	19.5	17.2
2011	15.9	17.6	17.3	15.1
2012	14.2	16	15.3	13.6
2013	15.6	14.5	14.6	12.4
2014	18.2	14.4	14.1	11.7
2015	10.4	12.5	12.9	10.6
2016	12.2	11.3	11.6	9.8
2017	11.1	11.2	11.4	9.2
2018	12.6	11.7	11.6	8.9
2019	11.4	11.2	11.1	8.6
2020	12.8	9.6	9.1	6.9
2021	8.7	9.4	9.2	7
Source: ONS Conceptions in England and Wales, 2023

Oldham's rate of abortions to under 18s is currently average for Greater Manchester, ranking 6th highest. Similarly to the teenage conceptions rate, Salford is the highest at 14.6 per 1,000 and Trafford sits lowest at 5.7 per 1,000. Trafford is the only Greater Manchester Local Authority with a rate below the national average (figure 4).

Figure 4: Abortions to under 18s across Greater Manchester
Source: ONS Conceptions in England and Wales, 2023 

Since 1998, the percentage of teenage conceptions leading to abortion has increased by 26% nationally. Oldham has seen a slightly higher increase (30%). Rates across the North West and Greater Manchester have seen much higher increases (46% and 58% respectively). Although rates for Oldham in 2019 and 2020 were similar to national averages, the rate for 2021 is much lower. Oldham's rate for 2021 was 42.5%, whilst the England rate was 53.4%, North West 56.1% and Greater Manchester 55.4%. Small fluctuations in rate are to expected when numbers concerned are low (figure 5). 

Figure 5: Percentage of under 18s conceptions leading to abortion
Source: ONS Conceptions in England and Wales, 2023

Table 3: Percentage of under 18 conceptions leading to abortion, 1998 to 2021
Year	Oldham	Greater Manchester	North West	England
1998	32.8	35.1	38.5	42.4
1999	35.7	35.9	39.9	43.5
2000	38.9	39.4	41.7	44.8
2001	39.1	40.7	43	46.1
2002	32.2	38.1	42	45.8
2003	39.5	41.4	41.9	46.1
2004	38.8	40.3	42.5	46
2005	41.9	42.1	43.3	46.8
2006	46	44.7	45.7	48.8
2007	44.1	47.2	48.9	50.5
2008	41.9	47.2	48.8	49.7
2009	56.3	49.2	48.7	49.1
2010	50.8	48.6	49.3	50.3
2011	43.7	46.6	48.9	49.3
2012	42.9	48	48.5	49.1
2013	51.1	51.3	52.8	51.1
2014	52.6	52.1	52.5	51.1
2015	47.4	51.6	52.1	51.2
2016	45.4	50.9	51.8	51.9
2017	43	52.4	51.9	52
2018	45.8	54.3	53.6	53
2019	53.8	57.9	57	54.7
2020	51.4	56.3	54.4	53
2021	42.5	55.4	56.1	53.4
Source: ONS Conceptions in England and Wales, 2023

Oldham's 2021 rate of 42.5% makes it the lowest across Greater Manchester. The rate in Trafford is highest at 73.5% (figure 6).

Figure 6: Percentage of under 18s conceptions leading to abortion across Greater Manchester
Source: ONS Conceptions in England and Wales, 2023

Further Information & Resources

Teenage Conceptions Quarterly Reporting
Oldham Council's Data Insight & Intelligence Team produce a quarterly report on Teenage Conceptions.

Teenage pregnancy prevention framework
This framework aims to help local areas assess their teenage pregnancy prevention programmes to:

• see what’s working well
• identify any gaps
• take a multi-agency whole-system approach
• prevent unplanned pregnancies and support young people to develop healthy relationships.

Teenage mothers and young fathers: support framework
This framework helps local healthcare commissioners and service providers review support arrangements for young parents in their area.

PHE/LGA Paper on tackling teenage pregnancy
More background information and advice on tackling teenage pregnancy is provided in Public Health England's joint paper with the Local Government Association (LGA) published January 2016 'Good progress but more to do - Teenage pregnancy and young parents'

OHID Child and Maternal Health Data Profile
For further data on teenage conceptions

ONS Conceptions Data
For further data on teenage conceptions

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