Historical abortion statistics, East Germany

Abortion statistics and other data--Johnston`s Archive

Historical abortion statistics, East Germany

compiled by Wm. Robert Johnston
last updated 14 January 2024

Definition of table data (see notes after table for additional information):

Live births.
Abortions, reported includes legal reported induced abortions.
Abortions (AWR) are combined reported and estimated abortion occurrences from the Abortion Worldwide Report and working papers.
Abortions, residents, in country only includes reported abortions obtained within the country by residents only.
Abortions, residents, obtained abroad includes reported abortions by country residents obtained in other countries.
Abortions, residents, total includes reported abortions by residents, obtained both within the country and abroad.
Fetal deaths generally includes fetal deaths or stillbirths of at least 20 weeks` gestation.
Miscarriages generally includes spontaneous fetal losses/ abortions, fetal deaths, or stillbirths, regardless of gestation period.
Abortion ratio is abortions per 1000 live births.
Abortion % is abortions as percentage of pregnancies (excluding fetal deaths/miscarriages).
Abortion rate, residents is abortions by residency per 1000 women ages 15-44.

year	live births	abortions, reported	abortions (AWR)	abortions, residents, in country only	abortions, residents, obtained abroad	abortions, residents, total	abortions, illegal	miscarriages and abortions	fetal deaths	abortion ratio		abortion %		abortion rate, residents
year	live births	abortions, reported	abortions (AWR)	abortions, residents, in country only	abortions, residents, obtained abroad	abortions, residents, total	abortions, illegal	miscarriages and abortions	fetal deaths	residents, in/out of country	all in country	residents, in/out of country	all in country	abortion rate, residents
1945			(4,000)
1946			(8,700)				500
1947			(13,000)				400
1948	231,572	17,500	17,500	(17,500)		17,500	65,000	64,000		75.6	75.6	7.03	7.03	5.3
1949	261,242	26,300	26,300	(26,300)		26,300	65,000	76,000		100.7	100.7	9.15	9.15	6.2
1950	290,521	26,400	26,400	(26,400)		26,400	65,000	84,000		90.9	90.9	8.33	8.33	6.4
1951	298,262	5,000	5,000	(5,000)		5,000		68,000		16.8	16.8	1.65	1.65	1.2
1952	293,686	3,600	3,600	(3,600)		3,600		62,000		12.3	12.3	1.21	1.21	0.90
1953	285,726	2,441	2,441	(2,441)		2,441		64,000		8.5	8.5	0.85	0.85	0.62
1954	280,527	1,714	1,714	(1,714)		1,714		60,000		6.1	6.1	0.61	0.61	0.44
1955	280,019	1,241	1,241	(1,241)		1,241				4.4	4.4	0.44	0.44	0.32
1956	268,200	987	987	(987)		987				3.7	3.7	0.37	0.37	0.30
1957	260,200	948	948	(948)		948				3.6	3.6	0.36	0.36	0.30
1958	258,000	926	926	(926)		926				3.6	3.6	0.36	0.36	0.30
1959	277,000	767	767	(767)		767				2.8	2.8	0.28	0.28	0.22
1960	277,400	765	765	(765)		765			4,765	2.8	2.8	0.28	0.28	0.22
1961	284,300	825	825	(825)		825			4,683	2.9	2.9	0.29	0.29	0.24
1962	280,400	739	739	(739)		739	20,000		4,387	2.6	2.6	0.26	0.26	0.22
1963	301,472	87	87	(87)		87			4,285	0.29	0.29	0.03	0.03	0.50
1964	291,867	128	128	(128)		128			3,975	0.44	0.44	0.04	0.04	0.70
1965	281,058	625	625	(625)		625			3,665	2.2	2.2	0.22	0.22	3.6
1966	267,958	1,207	1,207	(1,207)		1,207			3,395	4.5	4.5	0.45	0.45	7.1
1967	252,817	1,239	1,239	(1,239)		1,239			2,942	4.9	4.9	0.49	0.49	7.2
1968	245,143	1,180	1,180	(1,180)		1,180			2,803	4.8	4.8	0.48	0.48	6.8
1969	238,910	1,078	1,078	(1,078)		1,078			2,609	4.5	4.5	0.45	0.45	6.1
1970	236,929	1,114	1,114	(1,114)		1,114			2,502	4.7	4.7	0.47	0.47	6.2
1971	234,870	18,700	18,700	(18,700)	245	18,945			2,336	80.7	79.6	7.46	7.37	6.4
1972	200,443	114,000	114,000	(114,000)		114,000			1,858	568.7	568.7	36.25	36.25	33.1
1973	180,336	110,800	110,800	(110,800)		110,800			1,638	614.4	614.4	38.06	38.06	32.2
1974	179,127	99,757	99,757	(99,757)		99,757			1,461	556.9	556.9	35.77	35.77	29.0
1975	181,798	88,756	88,756	(88,756)		88,756			1,431	488.2	488.2	32.81	32.81	25.2
1976	195,483	83,207	83,207	(83,207)		83,207			1,438	425.6	425.6	29.86	29.86	23.3
1977	223,152	80,145	80,145	(80,145)		80,145			1,692	359.1	359.1	26.42	26.42	22.5
1978	232,151	79,087	79,087	(79,087)		79,087			1,647	340.7	340.7	25.41	25.41	22.0
1979	235,233	86,522	86,522	(86,522)		86,522			1,647	367.8	367.8	26.89	26.89	23.8
1980	245,132	92,103	92,103	(92,103)		92,103			1,646	375.7	375.7	27.31	27.31	24.4
1981	237,543	95,555	95,555	(95,555)		95,555			1,651	402.3	402.3	28.69	28.69	24.8
1982	240,102	96,414	96,414	(96,414)		96,414			1,413	401.6	401.6	28.65	28.65	25.0
1983	233,756	94,096	94,096	(94,096)		94,096			1,317	402.5	402.5	28.70	28.70	25.5
1984	228,135	96,200	96,200	(96,200)		96,200			1,236	421.7	421.7	29.66	29.66	26.2
1985	227,648	90,254	90,254	(90,254)		90,254			1,187	396.5	396.5	28.39	28.39
1986	222,268	85,725	85,725	(85,725)		85,725			1,041	385.7	385.7	27.83	27.83
1987	225,959	82,682	82,682	(82,682)		82,682			1,117	365.9	365.9	26.79	26.79
1988	215,734	80,840	80,840	(80,840)		80,840			1,076	374.7	374.7	27.26	27.26
1989	198,922	73,899	73,899	(73,899)		73,899			879	371.5	371.5	27.09	27.09
1990		(50,500)	(50,500)	(50,500)		(50,500)
year	live births	abortions, reported	abortions (AWR)	abortions, residents, in country only	abortions, residents, obtained abroad	abortions, residents, total	abortions, illegal	miscarriages and abortions	fetal deaths	abortion ratio		abortion %		abortion rate, residents
year	live births	abortions, reported	abortions (AWR)	abortions, residents, in country only	abortions, residents, obtained abroad	abortions, residents, total	abortions, illegal	miscarriages and abortions	fetal deaths	residents, in/out of country	all in country	residents, in/out of country	all in country	abortion rate, residents

Notes:

Parenthetical figures are estimates, some of which are derived from reported data.
Abortion ratios, percentages, and rates may be based on a mix of data from different sources and thus may not represent a consistent time series.

Sources:

Callahan, Daniel, 1970, Abortion: Law, Choice and Morality, Macmillan Co. (New York, NY).
Council of Europe, 2002, "Germany: former GDR before reunification," in Demographic Yearbook 2001, on line at COE [http://www.coe.int/t/e/social_cohesion/population/demographic_year_book/2001_edition/1Germany%20GDR%202001.asp].
Mehlan, K. H., 1988, "German Democratic Republic," in International Handbook on Abortion, ed. by Paul Sachdev, Greenwood Press (New York, NY), pp. 170-188.
Potts, Malcolm, Peter Diggory, and John Peel, 1977, Abortion, Cambridge Univ. Press (Cambridge, UK).
Tietze, Christopher, 1976, "Incidence of legal abortion," in Liberalization of Abortion Laws: Implications, ed. by Abdel R. Omran, Carolina Population Center (Chapel Hill, NC), pp. 1-17.
Tietze, Christopher, ed., 1981, Induced Abortion: A World Review 1981, Population Council (New York, NY).
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2000, "Table 5. Live births by age of mother, sex and urban/rural residence: 1948-1997," in United Nations Demographic Yearbook 1948-1997: Historical Supplement, United Nations (New York, NY), on line at United Nations Statistics Division [http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/products/dyb/DYBHist/HistTab05.pdf].
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis, 1994, United Nations Demographic Yearbook 1992, United Nations (New York, NY).

© 2000-2017, 2024 by Wm. Robert Johnston.
Last modified 14 January 2024.
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