§ Mrs. BrintonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list for each of the last 10 years the percentage of births among (i) 13 to 15 and (ii) 16 to 19-year-olds per 1,000 females for(a) Scotland, (b) England and Wales, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) each other European Union country. [79591]
§ Ms HewittThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Tim Holt to Mrs. Helen Brinton, dated 14 April 1999:
As Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question on teenage births.
The attached Table 1 shows livebirth rates for girls aged under 16 and 16–19 per 1000 female population aged 13–15 and 16–19 respectively.
Figures for other European Union countries are not readily available for the age-groups requested, but their teenage fertility rates are shown in the attached Table 2. The rates are for women aged under 20 at the end of the year, per 1000 female population aged 15–19, and are therefore not directly comparable to those shown above which are for women aged under 20 at maternity.
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Table 2: Fertility rates per 1000 female population aged under 20 at 31 December 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 Portugal 24.2 22.5 21.4 20.8 18.9 18.5 17.9 18.1 17.3 16.7 16.7 Finland 9.5 8.9 9.1 8.7 8.7 8.6 8.2 7.6 7.0 6.7 6.9 Sweden 7.9 7.4 7.8 8.9 9.8 9.2 8.3 7.7 6.7 6.1 5.5 UK 23.9 24.5 25.9 25.7 27.0 26.9 25.8 24.7 22.7 22.0 22.9 Source:
Eurostat