Induced abortion in Norway – fact sheet

2024

After a continuous marked decrease in the abortion rates for women since 2008 to historically low figures, we have from 2022 seen an increase in abortions. 

Up until 2015 abortion rates were highest for women in the 20–24 year age group, but the rate has fallen since 2009 and is now below the abortion rate for women aged 25–29 and women aged 30–34 years (figure 1). 

About the statistics

The abortion statistics are available from 1979. The Department of Health Registries at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) is responsible for the Register of Pregnancy Termination. Since July 1st 2006, the NIPH has collected information electronically. Prior to 2006, all terminations were registered with Statistics Norway.  

Teenagers 

In the 1980s, the rate was between 20 and 23 per 1000 women. Since 2008 the rate of abortion among teenagers was steadily falling until 2020. The abortion rate of 4.4 in 2020 was the lowest registered for teenagers since the register began in 1979 and has now increased to 6.8 per 1000 women 15-19 years in 2024. In 1979 women under 20 had the highest abortion rate among all age groups.  

Young adults (20-29 years old) 

Most abortions have been carried out among women in the 20-29 year age group. In 2024 there were 16.1 terminations per 1000 women in the age group 20-24 and 16.5 among women aged 25-29 (table 1).  

Regional variation 

There has always been a variation in abortion rate per 1000 women between counties and cities among all age groups. In 2024, Finnmark, Troms and Nordland had the highest abortion frequency with 15.9, 13.9 and 11.5 terminations per 1000 women respectively. Rogaland, Vestland and Møre og Romsdal had the lowest rates with 7.1, 7.9 and 8.2 terminations respectively per 1000 women.  

Medical method on the increase 

Norway introduced medical abortion with mifepristone and in 1998. Since then, it has been an almost complete shift from mainly surgical to medical abortion. In 2024, 94.6 % of terminations were performed using medication alone compared to 45.3 % in 2007 (Figure 3). 

Most terminations in first eight weeks 

The majority of terminations occur before 9th week of pregnancy. 2024 figures show that 82.8 % of abortions on request took place by the end of the 9th week. 

Committee-handled abortions after 12 weeks 

Terminations after the 12th week of pregnancy have to be approved by a local committee and the pregnancy can be terminated if certain indications are met. Reasons for most committee-handled abortions include fetal development abnormalities, social factors and/or maternal health.  

Norway passed a new law on abortion in 2024 that will come into effect from 1. June 2025. Under the new law abortions after 18th week of pregnancy will have to be approved by a local committee. 
 
The proportion of terminations that are carried out after 12 weeks is 4.9. In 2024 there were 631 committee-handled terminations. 

Preventive measures 

A series of measures have been introduced to reduce the number of terminations, particularly among women under 20 years of age. These include information about sexuality as well as easy access to prevention. Emergency contraception without prescription is available for teenagers. Public health nurses and midwives are authorized to prescribe hormonal contraception to teenagers. Other measures include free condoms, a free information telephone service about sexual health, strengthening of the student health services and the establishment of health centers for adolescents. 

High abortion figures among young adults also indicate that women for different reasons wish to postpone the time of their first birth. The average age for giving birth is over 30 years in Norway. Due to the assumption that one of the main contributing factors to reduced abortion rates among teenagers has been the access to subsidized contraception, the Norwegian Directorate of Health has recommended the same subsidizing for women aged 20-24.