25 Years of Induced Abortions in Europe

Ágnes Szabó-Morvai (), Anna Adamecz (), Flavia Cavallini (), Jessica Nisén (), Jitka Slabá (), Csaba Tóth and Sofia Trommlerová ()
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Ágnes Szabó-Morvai: ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies; University of Debrecen
Anna Adamecz: Social Research Institute, University College London; ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies
Flavia Cavallini: Department of Economic Research, Bank of Italy
Jessica Nisén: INVEST Research Flagship Centre, University of Turku
Jitka Slabá: Department of Demography and Geodemography, Charles University
Sofia Trommlerová: Institute of Public Policy, Comenius University Bratislava

No 2614, KRTK-KTI WORKING PAPERS from Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies

Abstract: This article provides descriptive evidence on induced abortions over the past 25 years in Eastern, Northern, Western, and Southern Europe, combining publicly available abortion data with restricted-access administrative datasets. We document diverse abortion-related institutional environments across European regions, the evolution of the total abortion rate, and differences by age, parity, and education. We find a decreasing trend with strong convergence across European countries, regardless of institutional settings and social norms. The largest declines occurred in Eastern Europe, while rates changed comparatively little elsewhere. The declines were the steepest among women with at least one child. Abortion rates were consistently the highest among women with primary education and lowest among those with tertiary education. However, the long period of convergence appears to have come to an end recently: since 2021, abortion rates have risen substantially in several Northern, Western, and Southern European countries, while continuing to decline in Eastern Europe.

Keywords: Abortion rate; Abortion ratio; Abortion trends; Abortion heterogeneity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 J13 J65 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-10
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