The Office for National Statistics has recently published data on the rate of conception in England and Wales in 2011.

The figures show that conception rates in 2011 increased for women aged 30 years and over, stayed the same for women aged 25–29 and decreased for women aged less than 25 years.

In addition, the figures show that the under 18 conception rate for 2011 is the lowest since 1969, at 30.9 conceptions per thousand.

According to the data, there has been a long-term rise in the proportion of conceptions (and births) occurring outside marriage.

In 2011 conceptions outside of a marriage/civil partnership accounted for 57% of all conceptions in England and Wales, compared with 52% in 2001. In contrast, only 44% of conceptions occurred outside marriage in 1991, say the ONS.

In 2011 the proportion of conceptions outside marriage/civil partnership which resulted in a maternity was 69%, compared with 93% of conceptions inside marriage/civil partnership.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0.