Abortion Statistics – By Reason, Demographic, Countries With No Restriction, Favorability Rate by Country, Countries With Some Restriction

Ketaki Joshi

Updated · Mar 02, 2023

Abortion Statistics – By Reason, Demographic, Countries With No Restriction, Favorability Rate by Country, Countries With Some Restriction

Introduction

Abortion Statistics: Abortion is one of the most discussed and controversial issues around the world. Depending on the country, the procedure and laws change from time to time. Majority of the abortions happen due to unplanned pregnancies. Some countries support abortion to save the life of a woman while some countries do not support this procedure at all. In developing countries, due to gender discrimination abortions happen regularly. All of these things apart, all countries must understand the physical pain a woman goes through when she is about to carry a child, and therefore laws should be made accordingly.

In this Abortion Statistics, a wide range of insights from around the globe have been written so that people will understand the severe issue happening in the current world.

Editor’s Choice

  • Every year, 7 million women get treatment for complications occurred from unsafe abortions.
  • Around 45% of abortions occur unsafely and 97% of them happen in developing countries.
  • The rate in countries where abortion is banned for any reason is 39 abortions for every 1000 women.
  • Around 6 out of 10 women who have abortions are already mothers.
  • In the United States of America, around 1 out of 3 women have an abortion before they reach the age of 45.
  • According to Abortion statistics, in the United States of America, banning abortion procedures is more likely to increase pregnancy-related death.
  • In countries where abortion is legal without any restriction, the rate is 41 abortions for every 1000 women.
  • In the United States of America, the rate of abortion decreased by 6% from 85,020 to 79,620 in the year 2022.
  • According to Abortion Statistics, each year, around 73 million induced abortions take place around the globe.
  • Every year 4.7% to 13.2% of maternal deaths occur because of unsafe abortion.

What is abortion?

Abortion is a termination process of pregnancy by removing the fetus. An abortion without intervention is called a miscarriage, on the other hand, deliberate steps taken for the process are called induced abortion. Some common reasons to happen abortions around the world are domestic violence, maternal health, lack of support, poverty, being focused on education and career, unwillingness towards raising children, or rape. Abortions are also harmful to the woman’s health and may be led to death if done without any proper safety. In order to reduce such risks, Public health insights say that making the procedure legal and accessible can reduce death around the world.

Types of Abortion

  • Medical abortion – It involves taking pills to terminate the pregnancy. These pills are FDA approved.
  • Surgical abortion – This type of abortion is performed by trained medical professionals in the clinic or hospital. It includes two types vacuum aspiration and dilation and evacuation.

What happens after an abortion?

Common side effects of abortion

  • Bleeding
  • Discharge
  • Breast or chest pain
  • Fatigue
  • Chills
  • Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
  • Pain and cramps

Severe side effects of abortion

  • Strong smelly vaginal discharge.
  • Continuous fever of 100.4º F or above.
  • Continuous pain or cramps that don’t go away even after taking medication.
  • Passing of blood clots bigger than the size of the lemon.
  • Long-lasting heavy bleeding.
  • Severe abdominal pain but is not uterine cramps.

General Abortion Statistics

  • According to the Abortion Statistics, the legal status doesn’t affect the decision on the abortion rate.
  • The rate in countries where abortion is banned for any reason is 39 abortions for every 1000 women.
  • Similarly, in countries where abortion is allowed only to save a woman’s life, the rate is 36 abortions for every 1,000 women.
  • And, in countries where abortion is legal without any restriction, the rate is 41 abortions for every 1000 women.
  • According to Abortion statistics, in the United States of America, banning abortion procedures is more likely to increase pregnancy-related death.
  • Every year, 7 million women get treatment for complications occurred from unsafe abortions.
  • In countries where abortion is banned, are more likely to experience unsafe procedures.
  • An abortion costs around $300 to $950 in the first trimester.
  • In the United States of America, around 1 out of 3 women have an abortion before they reach the age of 45.
  • Around the world, the rate of abortion is 42 million every year.
  • 6 out of 10 unintentional pregnancies end up in induced abortion.
  • Around 45% of abortions occur unsafely and 97% of them happen in developing countries.
  • According to Abortion Statistics, each year, around 73 million induced abortions take place around the globe.
  • Every year 4.7% to 13.2% of maternal deaths occur because of unsafe abortion.
  • Furthermore, Abortion Statistics say that, due to unsafe abortion, in developed countries, 30 women die for every 100,000 abortions.
  • Similarly, in developing countries, 220 deaths occur for every 100,000 abortions.
  • In the United States of America, the rate of abortion decreased by 6% from 85,020 to 79,620 in the year 2022.
  • Pregnant women in lower income family status are more likely to face problems to have safe abortions.
  • Around 6 out of 10 women who have abortions are already mothers.
  • In India 67% of abortions are unsafe, and 8 deaths have occurred every year.
  • 40% of the abortions that took place in minors didn’t inform their parents.
  • 93% of abortions happen in the first trimester.
  • During an abortion, 12% of American households are unable to pay $400.

By Previously Performed Procedures

(Reference: The New York Times)

  • 58% of the women never did any abortion before their current one.
  • 24% of the women stated that they had 1 abortion while 11% said they did it twice before the third one.
  • 8% of the women had already been aborted three times before the current procedures.

By Status

(Reference: The New York Times)

  • The highest rate of abortion is with the women who are either never married or are single resulting in 46% as stated by Abortion statistics.
  • There around 14% of women are married 31% of women are in life in a relationship with a partner.
  • 9% of the women with abortion decision were previously married and now are single.

By Type

  • According to the Abortion statistics, 56% of women decide to do it by surgical methods.
  • On the other hand, 44% go with the medical procedure.

(Reference: The New York Times)

By Period

(Reference: The New York Times)

  • The highest number of women do abortions within 6 weeks resulting in 43%.
  • While 36% choose to do it between 7 to 9 weeks, and 13% wait until 10 to 13 weeks.
  • 3% of women perform the abortion procedure between 14 to 15 weeks and 4% do it in 16 weeks or more.

Abortion Statistics By Reason

Percentage Reason
0.01% The pregnancy resulted from an incestuous relationship
0.15% The woman was raped
0.15% The woman's life was endangered by the pregnancy
0.95% There was a serious fetal abnormality
1.34% The woman's physical health was threatened by the pregnancy
1.89% The woman's psychological health was threatened by the pregnancy
21.3% The woman aborted for social or economic reasons
74.2% No reason (elective)

(Reference: abort73.com)

  • The above chart represents the reasons behind abortion, the highest percentage goes to social and economic reasons.
  • 01% of women said the pregnancy resulted from a relationship.
  • On the other hand, pregnancy was caused by rape resulting in 0.15%.
  • Similarly, 0.15% of the women faced danger to their life due to pregnancy.
  • 95% felt serious abnormality while 1.34% decided to do an abortion because their physical health was threatened by the pregnancy.
  • 89% of women said their psychological health was threatened.
  • 2% of the women gave elective reasons.

Abortion Statistics By Demographic

By Age

(Reference: The New York Times)

  • There were around 9% of teens had abortions below the legal age.
  • 28% of the women were aged between 20 years to 24 years while the highest percentage of abortions were performed in the age group of 25 years to 29 years resulting in 28%.
  • 30 years to 34 years of women resulting in 20% performing the abortion.
  • Similarly, there were 15% of women, were 35 years and above.

By Ethnicity

(Reference: infographicszone.com)

  • Considering the Abortion statistics by ethnic background, the women population of white and black held a similar abortion rate of 36%.
  • 22% of them were Hispanic by ethnic background.
  • And 6% of the women didn’t reveal their ethnic background.

By Income Level

  • 49% of the women with abortions were below the poverty line.
  • 26% of the women in a similar category were up to twice the poverty level.
  • On the other hand, according to the Abortion Statistics, 25% of them were more than twice the poverty level.

(Reference: The New York Times)

By Education Level

(Reference: The New York Times)

  • In the United States of America, 9% of the women who did abortions had no high school degree.
  • On the other hand, 27% of the women received a high school degree while 41% of them had some college-level education.
  • On the other hand, 23% of the women with decided to do an abortion graduated from college.

(Reference: Statista)

  • As of 2022, 72% of Democrats and 35% of republicans think a lot about abortion when making their decision.
  • Similarly, there are 64% and 44% of people aged 18 years to 29 years and 65 years and above with equal thoughts.
  • 60% of females and 42% of males think a lot about abortion while making a decision. Out of these 60% live in the urban area and 46% live in the rural area.
  • With a minor difference, there are 55% of the people whose income is less than $50K and 54% belong with an income of $100K and more, consider abortion while making the decision.

Abortion Statistics By Rate of Abortion

By Highest

(Reference: world population review)

  • The above insights on abortion show the highest rate by country as of 2023.
  • The top three are Russia 53.7% (144,444,359), Vietnam 35.2% (98,858,950), and Kazakhstan 35% (19,606,633).
  • Estonia 33.3% (1,322,765), Belarus 31.7% (9,498,238), Romania 27.8% (19,892,812), Ukraine 27.5% (36,744,634), Latvia 27.3% (1,830,211), Cuba 24.8% (11,194,449), and China 24.2% (1,425,671,352).

By Lowest

(Reference: world population review)

  • The top 10 countries with the lowest abortion rate compared to the population in the year 2023 are as follows.
  • Mexico’s population as of 2023 is 128,455,567 and the abortion rate is 0.1%. Whereas Portugal’s population is 10,247,605 and the rate is 0.2%.
  • As of 2023, in Qatar, the rate of abortion is 1.2% while the overall population is 2,716,391.
  • Other countries on the list are Austria 1.3% (8,958,960), India 3.1% (1,428,627,663), South Africa 4.5% (60,414,495), Greece 5% (10,341,277), Croatia 5.7% (4,008,617), Switzerland 7.3% (8,796,669) and Belgium 7.5% (11,686,140).
  • All of the above-resulted rates are per 1000 women aged between 15 years to 44 years.

Abortion Statistics By Countries With No Restriction

(Reference: world population review)

  • According to Abortion Statistics of 2023, the top 10 countries with no restrictions on the procedure are as follows.
  • Russia, Vietnam, Turkey, Germany, France, South Africa, Italy, Spain, Argentina, and Canada.

Abortion Statistics By Countries With Some Restriction

(Reference: world population review)

  • According to Abortion statistics of 2023, the above list provides information on top countries where abortion is legal on request to preserve health or save a mother’s life.
  • India stands top where if a woman wants to abort the child she has to request the procedure to entitled authorities on the basis of perseverance of health and on socioeconomic grounds.
  • Other countries which made abortion legal to save a mother’s life are Indonesia, Nigeria, Brazil, Bangladesh, and Mexico.
  • In Pakistan and Ethiopia, the procedure is legal to preserve the physical health of a woman.
  • In the United States of America as of 2023, the rule of abortion varies according to the state.

Abortion Statistics By Favorability Rate By Country

(Reference: Statista)

  • As per the Abortion statistics of the global average of favorability toward abortion as of 2022 is 59%.
  • In Sweden, 86% of residents support the decision while in France 83% of the population is in favor of abortion.
  • Belgium and Netherlands contribute around 78% respectively.
  • Other countries with a percentage support to abortion are as follows: Great Britain (74%), Italy (73%), Spain, Germany, Hungary, Canada, and Australia (70% each), Romania (64%), Poland (60%), Chile (55%), South Korea and United States of America (54%).
  • Furthermore, Argentina and Mexico (52%), Turkey (51%), Japan (49%), Brazil and China (48%), South Africa (42%), India and Colombia (40%) Malaysia (32%)and Peru (31%).

Conclusion

As per the above Abortion statistics, this has been a serious issue as it is not legalized in some countries. Gender discrimination-related abortions must be banned but, if a woman is not ready to carry a child, the government and the family should support her decision without any problems. Other factors that impact the decision on abortion are political, cultural, and legal. After all, the decision lies in the hands of the woman and the responsible partner.

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  • FAQ.

    Is the abortion procedure confidential?

    Yes, the abortion procedure is very confidential. In case of informing the parents or spouse the healthcare workers will ask the person before doing so.

    Does aborting causes problems in future pregnancies?

    If the abortion goes safe and does not cause any side effects, then it doesn’t create any problems for future pregnancies. But to be honest, there are no proven results for the connection between abortion and future pregnancies.

    Is it okay to do sex after an abortion?

    Yes, if the woman is completely recovered from abortion treatment, then only sexual intercourse is safe to do. Moreover, pregnancy chances are also high immediately after the treatment. It is suggested to use contraception if you are not willing to get pregnant.

    Is abortion painful?

    It depends on the physical strength of the woman as well as the type of abortion.

    Ketaki Joshi
    Ketaki Joshi

    By conducting scientific research, I write about illness, health and healthcare. As a professional medical writer, my experience includes creating feature articles for newsletters and websites as well as research news stories for doctors and researchers. Reading has been an integral part of me since childhood - I'm fan of "Friends" and the "Harry Potter series". Before this career, I was employed by a French multinational company. However, my passion for reading led me to pursue writing professionally; my first Amazon-published short story entitled "The envelope that changed our lives" has recently been released. In my free moments, I enjoy long bike rides around town.

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