Induced abortion in Norway

Article

Last update 12.05.2026

The number of abortions has been historically low for several years, with a slight increase after the Covid pandemic, in line with rising birth rates. Nine out of ten abortions are performed by the end of the 10th week, and nine out of ten are conducted using medication.

Induced abortions in 2025

In 2025, there were 13,211 abortions performed in Norway. This is a slight increase from 2024. The rate increased for all age groups, from 10.3 per 1,000 women (ages 15-49) in 2024 to 10.6 in 2025. The transition from the 1975 law to the 2024 law took place on June 1, 2025. Of all abortions, 94.6% were self-determined before June 1, and 98.8% after that date. Additionally, 89.0% of all abortions were performed by the end of the 10th week, and 5.6% occurred after the 12th week.

Table 1. Abortions in Norway, per 1000 women
Age groups:	15-19	20-24	25-29	30-34	35-39	40-44	45-49	15-49
2023	5.9	16.0	18.0	15.7	11.8	4.4	0.3	10.4
2024	6.8	16.1	16.5	15.3	12.0	4.5	0.4	10.3
2025	6,9	15,9	18,0	15,5	12,4	4,4	0,4	10,6
Source: Abortion Registry, Norwegian Institue of Public Health

Figure 1. Percentage of abortions by gestational age, 2001–2025

The number of pregnancies among those under 25 years old has remained stable

The number of abortions among teenagers (aged 15-19) is low, but it has increased from 4.4 per 1,000 women in 2020 to 6.9 in 2025. Looking at data from both the Abortion Register and the Medical Birth Registry, we see that the trend of declining abortion and birth rates has now reversed, with a slight increase in both birth and abortion rates (refer to figure 1 and 2).

Figure 2. Abortions per 1,000 women, by the woman’s age, 2011–2025

Figure 2. Abortions performed per 1,000 women, by the woman’s age, 2011–2025. Source: The Abortion Register, Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

Figure 3. Births per 1,000 women aged 15–49 in the period 2011–2025

Young adults (20-29 years old)

Up until 2015, the highest abortion rate was among women in their early 20s. However, since then, the age group 25-29 years old has taken over as the group with the highest abortion rate, with a rate of 18.0 per 1,000 women.

Regional variation

There is significant regional variation in the abortion rates across Norway:

Finnmark, Troms, and Oslo are the counties with the highest number of abortions per 1,000 women, with rates of 16.8 in Finnmark, 13.8 in Troms, and 11.7 in Oslo.
Among the major university cities, Tromsø has the highest abortion rate at 12.7, while Stavanger has the lowest at 9.1.
Agder, Rogaland, and Møre og Romsdal have the lowest abortion rates, with 8.3 per 1,000 women in Agder, 8.5 in Rogaland, and 9.4 in Møre og Romsdal.

Medication abortion on the increase

Since 2008, most abortions on request have been carried out using medication. This method has seen a gradual increase in use since it was introduced in 1998. In 2025, 94.3% of abortions were performed using medication.

Most abortions occur within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, and seven out of ten are completed outside the hospital

In 2025, 89.0% of all abortions were conducted by the end of the 10th week. Up to the end of the 10th week, a pregnancy can be terminated outside of a hospital, which is often called a "home abortion."

Health North and some hospitals in Health South-East are now able to report how many abortions are completed outside of hospital. In 2025, 75.8% of medication abortions at hospitals in Health South-East and 69.1% in Health North were terminated outside of hospitals by the end of the 10th week, with a variation ranging from 26.5% to 92.5%, depending on the hospital performing the procedure.

The percentage of abortions after the 12th week has increased in recent years, rising to 5.6% in 2025 from 5.2% in 2024. Looking at the period before and after June 1, 5.4% of abortions before June 1 occurred after the 12th week, compared to 5.9% after June 1. Since there is variation between spring and autumn in previous years, this cannot be definitively linked to the legislative change. Of all the abortions, 94.6% before June 1 and 98.8% after June 1 were on request.

Committee-handled abortions

According to the 1975 abortion law, a request for an abortion must be reviewed by a committee if the woman is more than 12 weeks pregnant. From June 1, 2025, this limit was extended to the end of the 18th week. Cases that are denied by the primary committee are automatically forwarded to the appeals committee, which is based at Oslo University Hospital, Ullevål.

In 2025, there were 392 committee-reviewed abortions, with 301 occurring before June 1 and 91 after June 1. Prior to June 1, most of the committee-reviewed abortions were granted based on the risk of medical issues with the fetus. Due to changes in the grounds for granting an abortion after the 18th week under the 2024 law, it is not possible to determine definitively whether the fetus was healthy or if it had malformations or conditions that influenced the decision to terminate the pregnancy.

About the Abortion Statistics

The Abortion Register has been collecting data from 1979 to the present. Until 2006, Statistics Norway (SSB) was responsible for abortion statistics, and after that, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health took over the management of the register and statistics.

Preventive Measures and Hormonal Contraception

The government has a stated goal to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Several measures have been implemented to reduce the number of abortions. These efforts primarily focus on increasing knowledge about the body and sexuality and improving access to services necessary for a safe and healthy sex life. This includes education on the body and sexuality, easy access to contraception, over-the-counter emergency contraception, and granting midwives and public health nurses the right to prescribe hormonal contraception.

There has been a particular focus on the youngest age groups. Initiatives for them include subsidized contraception, free condoms, a free sexuality information hotline, enhancing student health services, and increasing the number of youth health clinics. It is believed that a major reason for the significant decline in abortions among young people since 2008 is due to the availability of subsidized contraception and that young people have carried their contraceptive behavior into adulthood. Several studies indicate that there is a particular effect on abortion rates with the use of long-acting contraception methods, such as contraceptive implants and IUDs (intrauterine devices).

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. 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.

International

Most of the Nordic countries have liberalized their abortion laws in recent years: Iceland (2017), Norway (2024), Finland (2023), and Denmark (2024). Finland extended the right to self-determined abortion up to the end of the 12th week. Both Denmark and Norway have extended this right to the end of the 18th week, with these changes taking effect on June 1, 2025. Sweden allows self-determined abortions up to 18 weeks, and Iceland up to 22 weeks. Finland has the lowest numbers and the highest proportion of medication abortions. The Nordic countries have abortion rates similar to other Western European countries in terms of the number of abortions per 1,000 women. Russia and some other Eastern European countries have significantly higher numbers of abortions per 1,000 births compared to countries in Western and Southern Europe.

According to the latest WHO report on safe and unsafe abortions, it was estimated that around 43.8 million abortions were performed in 2008, with 21.6 million being unsafe. Nearly all unsafe abortions occur in developing countries and in places where abortions are not readily available due to restrictive laws or poorly developed healthcare systems. The regions with the highest rates are Latin America and Africa, with 32 and 29 per 1,000 women of reproductive age, respectively. Globally, about one in five pregnancies ends in abortion.