Northern Ireland
Underage pregnancies
Key points
- Although the numbers jump around from year to year, in the most deprived areas around 6 girls in every 1,000 aged 13 to 16 give birth. In other areas, by contrast, just 2 such girls in every 1,000 give birth.
Graph 1: Over time
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Definitions and data sources
The graph shows, over time, the rate of births to girls aged 13 to 16, with the data shown separately for areas of high deprivation and for other areas.
The data source is the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, who produced the rates using the most recent population estimates (the data is not publicly available). 'High deprivation' is defined as those super output areas in the worst fifth in the Multiple Deprivation Measure (MDM).
Overall adequacy of this indicator: limited. Births at age 16 are an entirely different matter to births at age 13. Ideally one would also look at conceptions as well as births but this is difficult to do in Northern Ireland, where abortion is illegal so terminations, which have to be carried out outside the province, are not counted anywhere in official statistics.
External links
See the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety's site on health inequalities.