HC Deb 10 February 2000 vol 344 cc282-3W
Mr. Woodward

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what were the annual figures from 1970 until the present for the overall number of births outside of marriage by teenagers as a percentage of the overall number of births by teenagers in the United Kingdom. [109466]

Miss Melanie Johnson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from John Pullinger, on behalf of Dr. Holt, to Mr. Shaun Woodward dated 10 February 2000: The Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been asked to reply to your parliamentary question on the annual figures from 1970 until the present for the overall number of births outside of marriage by teenagers as a percentage of the overall number of births by teenagers in the United Kingdom. I am replying in Dr Holt's absence. The attached table shows the percentage of live births for teenagers (aged under 20) outside marriage from 1970 to present in the UK.

Year Percentage of births outside marriage
1970 25.2
1971 25.6
1972 26.9
1973 27.6
1974 29.6
1975 31.4
Year Percentage of births outside marriage
1976 33.3
1977 35.8
1978 37.5
1979 39.5
1980 41.5
1981 45.5
1982 50.6
1983 55.1
1984 59.7
1985 63.9
1986 68.4
1987 72.4
1988 75.6
1989 78.2
1990 80.2
1991 83.0
1992 83.9
1993 85.2
1994 85.9
1995 87.2
1996 88.6
1997 89.3
1998 89.7

Mr. Woodward

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what were the annual figures from 1970 until the present for the overall number of births outside of marriage (1) for teenagers of ethnic minority groups as a percentage of the overall number of ethnic minority teenage births in the UK; [109465]

(2) for ethnic minority groups as a percentage of the overall number of ethnic minority births in the UK. [109467]

Miss Melanie Johnson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Director of the Office for National Statistics. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from John Pullinger, on behalf of Dr. Holt, to Mr. Shaun Woodward, dated 10 February 2000: The Director of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been asked to reply to your parliamentary questions on the percentage of births outside marriage by ethnic minority. I am replying in Dr. Holt's absence. The current form of birth registration does not include ethnicity. Figures on live births by country of birth of mother are available in Birth Statistics 1998, FM1 which is available in the House of Commons Library. However, it should be noted that birthplace does not necessarily indicate ethnic origin or race. More information on these statistics can be found in an article in Population Trends 52, 1988.

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