Sources and methods:
Definition: An abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death. An abortion can occur spontaneously due to complications during pregnancy or can be induced.
Abortion as a term most commonly - and in the statistics presented here - refers to the induced abortion of a human pregnancy, while spontaneous abortions are usually termed miscarriages.
"This year" refers to the period from Jan 1 at 00:00 up to now.
The data on abortions displayed on the Worldometer's counter is based on the latest estimates on worldwide abortions published by various sources, including the World Health Organization (WHO). According to WHO, every year in the world there are around 73 million induced abortions. This corresponds to approximately 200,000 abortions per day.
In the USA, where nearly 30% of pregnancies are unintended and 40% of these are terminated by abortion, there are between 1,500 to 2,500 abortions per day. Nearly 20% of all pregnancies in the USA (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion. Guttmacher Institute reports 930,160 abortions performed in 2020 in the United States, with a rate of 14.4 per 1,000 women. CDC reports 629,898 abortions in 2019, with a rate of 11.4 abortions per 1,000 women (excludes CA, MD, NH).
References and useful links:
- Abortion - World Health Organization (WHO) - Abortion Statistics by the World Health Organization
- Induced Abortion in the United States - Guttmacher Institute
- Country-specific estimates of unintended pregnancy and abortion incidence: a global comparative analysis of levels in 2015–2019 - BMJ Global Health
- Unintended pregnancy and abortion by income, region, and the legal status of abortion: estimates from a comprehensive model for 1990-2019, Guttmacher Institute, WHO, University of Massachussets, July 2020, The Lancet Global Health Journal
- Global, regional, and subregional classification of abortions by safety, 2010–14: estimates from a Bayesian hierarchical model
- [1] Finer LB and Henshaw SK, Disparities in rates of unintended pregnancy in the United States, 1994 and 2001, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2006, 38(2):90–96.
- [2] Jones RK et al., Abortion in the United States: incidence and access to services, 2005, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2008, 40(1):6–16
- Shah, I.; Ahman, E. (December 2009). "Unsafe abortion: global and regional incidence, trends, consequences, and challenges" (Pdf). Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada 31 (12): 1149–58. PMID 20085681
- Bearak J, Popinchalk A, Ganatra B, Moller A-B, Tunçalp Ö, Beavin C et al. Unintended pregnancy and abortion by income, region, and the legal status of abortion: estimates from a comprehensive model for 1990–2019. Lancet Glob Health. 2020
