This dataset presents the rate of delivery episodes where the mother is aged under 18 years. It is based on pooled data over five years and includes only those births that occurred in NHS hospitals or similar institutions, excluding deliveries at home, in private hospitals, or other non-standard settings. The indicator provides insight into teenage pregnancy trends and supports public health efforts aimed at reducing early motherhood.
Rationale
Reducing the number of births to teenage mothers is a key public health objective, as early motherhood is often associated with poorer health, educational, and economic outcomes for both mother and child. This indicator helps monitor progress in reducing teenage pregnancies and informs targeted interventions.
Numerator
The numerator includes the total number of maternal episodes where the mother is aged between 12 and 17 years, and the episode type is recorded as a delivery (type '2') or other delivery event (type '5'). Deliveries that occurred at a domestic address, in a private hospital, or in another institution are excluded. Data is sourced from the Secondary Uses Service (Inpatient Data Set).
Denominator
The denominator includes the total number of maternal episodes with a valid maternal age, where the episode type is '2' (delivery) or '5' (other delivery event), and the place of delivery is not a domestic address, private hospital, or other institution. Data is also sourced from the Secondary Uses Service (Inpatient Data Set).
Caveats
Deliveries that occur at home or in private hospitals are not included in this dataset. Additionally, sub-national counts of 8 and above are rounded to the nearest 5 for disclosure control. The data is pooled over five years to ensure statistical robustness.
External references
For more information, visit the Public Health England Fingertips Profile.
Localities Explained
This dataset contains data based on either the resident locality or registered locality of the patient, a distinction is made between resident locality and registered locality populations:
- Resident Locality refers to individuals who live within the defined geographic boundaries of the locality. These boundaries are aligned with official administrative areas such as wards and Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs).
- Registered Locality refers to individuals who are registered with GP practices that are assigned to a locality based on the Primary Care Network (PCN) they belong to. These assignments are approximate—PCNs are mapped to a locality based on the location of most of their GP surgeries. As a result, locality-registered patients may live outside the locality, sometimes even in different towns or cities.
This distinction is important because some health indicators are only available at GP practice level, without information on where patients actually reside. In such cases, data is attributed to the locality based on GP registration, not residential address.
Click here to explore more from the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Partnerships Outcome Framework.