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Teen Pregnancy Rates drop say ONS figures
Recently the ONS (Office for National Statistics) have published that teen pregnancy rates have dropped by 32.3% since 2004 whereas in the EU has a fall of 15.6%.
Experts think this is because more girls are socialising online and alcohol awareness is higher.
It stands at 24.5 per 1000 girls from 15 – 17 compared to the 27.9 last year , this is a 13% drop in one year. However the rate of pregnancy in women over 35 is rising.
In the past the UK has had one of the highest teen pregnancy and abortion rates in Western Europe.
Recently the Government have been making new strategies to attempt to get these rates lower but the FPA thinks that there is no room for self-approval.
Education programmes and easier access to contraception played a part in bringing down rates, even in deprived areas. Harry Walker , FPA spokesman said "We are no doubt still seeing the lasting effects of the government's 10-year teenage pregnancy strategy. But the danger with getting good news year on year is that people start to take their eye off the ball and forget that the figures we are seeing today are the result of a complex series of actions over a number of years by professionals at a national and local level."Any complacency now and we will see a knock-on effect in years to come."
The charity says that the UK is still falling behind the rest of the countries in Western Europe.
According to records in 2012 the UK only had lower teenage pregnancy rates than countries such as Bulgaria, Romania Slovakia and 28 other countries in the EU.
(picture - BBC)
By Kate