Teen pregnancy: The regional differences in England & Wales

According to new figures published by the UK's Office for National Statistics, Middlesbrough, Blackpool and St. Helens are England's teenage pregnancy capitals. Regionally, the North East of England recorded the most conceptions of 15- to 17-year-olds per 1,000 women - 19.4 as of June in 2020 - with the North West following closely with 18.0 and Yorkshire and the Humber at 17.6.

Although rates have been decreasing consistently over the last few years, caution should be taken when comparing the 2020 figures to previous years. As noted by the ONS: "The number of conceptions are uncharacteristically low for these quarters after accounting for the trend in decreases over time. This is a result of (the) coronavirus pandemic and disruptions to registration services that occurred in 2020, affecting maternities data used to compile the latest conception statistics".