Introduction

Teenage pregnancies are often unplanned, with about half ending in abortion, resulting in avoidable costs and challenges for young women. Research indicates that teenage motherhood is linked to several poorer outcomes including lower educational attainment, which can limit future career opportunities and earning potential.  Teenage mothers are also more likely to experience single parenting and poverty, which can create a cycle of disadvantage that is difficult to break and increased mental health risks, including higher rates of depression and anxiety. The infants of teenage mothers are at an elevated risk of mortality, and those who survive often face greater risks of poverty, poor housing conditions, accidents, and behavioural issues. These challenges can have long-term impacts on the child’s development and well-being.

National rates

Conception rates among those aged under 18 years in England had been declining for many years before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, there were 19.8 conceptions per 1,000 women aged 16–17 and 2.5 per 1,000 women aged under 16. These rates dropped further in 2020 to 16.2 and 2.1, respectively, during the first year of the pandemic. By 2022, after restrictions were lifted, rates rose slightly to 17.6 for 16–17-year-olds and 2.2 for under-16s, but still remained below pre-pandemic levels. This aligns with the long-term downward trend in conception rates among under-18s.

Local authority level In 2022, the rate of under 18 conceptions by local authority area, ranged from 4.2 per 1,000 population in Ribble Valley (Lancashire) to 34.4 per 1,000 population in Redcar and Cleveland (North Yorkshire). The national average was 13.9 per 1,000. The East Riding rate for the same year was 12.1 per 1,000 population, which ranked the local authority 133rd lowest, out of 324 areas. The interactive map on the right, allows the user to select different local authority areas to view conception rates for women aged under 18 years, by local authority, in England and Wales during 2022. Lower values are represented by light green colours and darker colours displaying higher rates.  The green colour of the East Riding area in the map indicates that its conception rate is amongst the lower values within England.  Neighbouring local authority, Hull, is much darker in colour on the map with its rate of 29.2 per 1,000 nearly 2.5 times higher than the rate of the East Riding.

The East Riding trends and comparison with other areas

Conception rate of East Riding residents aged under 16 year olds As with the national average, the East Riding rate has decreased over time. In all periods shown in the chart (2009 to 2021) the East Riding remained a statistically similar rate to England, as signified by the orange dots. In 2021, the East Riding recorded the 2nd lowest rate within the Yorkshire & Humber region and 8th highest (out of 16) amongst its NHS England nearest statistical neighbours.
Conception rate of East Riding residents aged under 18 year olds Since 2009, the East Riding rate has decreased almost year on year, however in the years preceding that year, the rate had not only stabilised but started to increase. In all but 5 periods shown in the chart (1998 to 2021) the East Riding has recorded a significantly lower rate to England (as signified by the green dots) but in recent years has been classified as similar. In 2022, the East Riding recorded the 3rd lowest rate within the Yorkshire & Humber region and 9th highest (out of 16) amongst its NHS England nearest statistical neighbours.
Under 18s conceptions leading to abortion (%) The East Riding proportion of under 18 conceptions leading to abortion has slowly been increasing between 1998 and 2021 as shown in the chart on the right. This has also been the case nationally too, against which the East Riding has remained statistically similar. In 2022, the East Riding recorded the 4th highest proportion within the Yorkshire & Humber region and 5th lowest (out of 16) amongst its NHS England nearest statistical neighbours.

Rates within the communities of the East Riding

Rates of under 18 conceptions by East Riding middle super output area (MSOA) are provided to us by ONS, the latest being for the 3 year pooled period 2020-22. In this period there were 202 conceptions where the female was under that age of 18 years.  Due to the small numbers involved at this geography, it is not possible to reproduce the data here and over half of the MSOAs were redacted from view anyway.

Within the East Riding there were MSOAs with zero conceptions (Kirk Ella, Willerby, and Skipsea, Beeford and Brandesburton) through to the MSOAs with significantly highest rates than the East Riding average, these were located within some of the East Riding’s most deprived communities.

There were 2 MSOAs with significantly higher rates of under 18 conceptions than the East Riding average rate (12.5 per 1,000 population), these MSOAs were Bridlington Hilderthorpe (a rate of 69.0/1,000 population based on 18 conceptions) and Bridlington West (33.4/1,000 population based on 13 conceptions).  Goole East recorded the third highest rate at 24.8/1,000 population (13 conceptions) but was not significantly higher than the East Riding average. Bridlington Hilderthorpe’s rate of 69/1000 population was 5.5 times higher than the East Riding average and placed it as the 5th highest MSOA rate within the 7,264 MSOAs of England and Wales. This MSOA rate has increased in rate year on year between 2018-20 and 2020-22, overtaking Bridlington West to become the MSOA with the highest rate over the most recent two periods.