TEENAGE pregnancy rates have plummeted in Southampton in the last 17 years, according to new figures.

But despite the decline from 1998 to 2015, Southampton still has one of the highest figures for teenage pregnancy in the south east.

Only Medway in Kent, with 140 pregnancies in 2015, and Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire with 100, had more than Southampton.

More than one third of the pregnancies in the city led to abortion, according to the figures by the Office for National Statistics.

The figures coincide with a regional trend, that shows the under-18 conception rate in 2015 was the lowest since records began in 1969.

The figures show teenage pregnancies have reduced by 9 per cent since 2014 and by 55 per cent since 1998 when there were 216 in Southampton, down to 99 in 2015.

The cause of the drop in pregnancies is a “cultural change” according to Diane Henty, who is a family nurse supervisor at Family Nurses Partnership run by the Solent NHS Trust.

Ms Henty said: “There is generally a cultural change around the drop nationally, and I think that is around awareness of young people having a sense of control about their future.

“In Southampton it is a bit of a cycle of young parents have children and their children go on to be teenage parents, but I think some of that is changing.”

“We work closely with the outreach sexual health team, and second pregnancy rates have fallen dramatically in Southampton.”

A spokesman for Southampton City Council said the drop started after the council joined a national programme: “We commission a number of projects and services in Southampton, and work with schools to improve education.”