asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will state (a) the total number of live births, (b) the total number of illegitimate live births, (c) the ratio of live births to abortions, (d) the number of illegitimate births as a percentage of all live births for
| England and Wales | ||||
| Year | Total live births* | Total illegitimate births* | Ratio of live births to abortions† | Illegitimate births as percentage of all live births |
| Women aged under 20 | ||||
| 1967 | 84,542 | 21,642 | — | 25·6 |
| 1969 | 81,659 | 21,626 | 8·8 | 26·5 |
| 1974 | 68,724 | 20,861 | 2·5 | 30·4 |
| 1978 | 55,984 | 21,643 | 2·4 | 38·7 |
| 1980 | 60,754 | 25,860 | 1·7 | 42·6 |
| 1982 | 55,435 | 28,739 | 1·6 | 51·8 |
| 1983 | 54,059 | 30,423 | 1·5 | 56·3 |
| Women aged 20 and over | ||||
| 1967 | 747,622 | 48,286 | — | 6·5 |
| 1969 | 715,879 | 45,415 | 17·6 | 6·3 |
| 1974 | 571,161 | 35,625 | 7·0 | 6·2 |
| 1978 | 540,434 | 38,994 | 6·1 | 7·2 |
| 1980 | 595,480 | 51,512 | 6·4 | 8·7 |
| 1982 | 570,496 | 61,118 | 6·1 | 10·7 |
| 1983 | 575,075 | 68,788 | 6·2 | 12·0 |
| * Including a small number of births registered in England and Wales to women resident outside the country. | ||||
| † Abortions under the 1967 Abortion Act. | ||||
asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give a breakdown according to the statutory grounds on which abortions were performed on women resident in England and Wales where the foetus was aged 20 to 23 weeks and 24 weeks or more; and what each of these figures is as a percentage of the number of abortions of foetuses of these ages in the latest year for which figures are available.
The latest available information is shown in the following table.women who are aged (i) over 20 years and (ii) under 20 years, the resident in England and Wales in each of the following years; 1967, 1969, 1974, 1978, 1980, 1982 and 1983.
The figures requested are shown in the table.