In recent years teenage pregnancies have been on a steady decline in Tyne and Wear and some of the surrounding areas in the North East.
This may be because more teenagers are focusing on their education rather than starting families. A study showed that one in three English 18-year-olds have been placed on degree courses through UCAS in 2017.
In Tyne and Wear, Sunderland is the highest for teenage pregnancies at 135 conceptions, but that figure has still decreased from 301 in 2006.
Nicola, 44, and a mother to six children, had her first child when she was 17. She said: “There were kids younger than me in the hospital the same time I was there. There were three 13-year-old girls, it was like kids having to bring up kids.”
Lucy, who is now currently studying at Sunderland University, got pregnant at 16 and said: “I never thought being a teenage mother would lead to a life, a university and a future but I have managed it, but I have shown that although pregnancies in teenage years are not the easiest, a life can be achieved.”
Below is a map showing areas in the North East and how many teenage pregnancies there has been between 2006 and 2016.