However, Tayside still tops Scotland’s abortion league, with a rate of 15.2 terminations per 1000 women aged 15 to 44. That was the highest of the 13 health board areas and more the twice the rate of the lowest.

Fife came equal fourth of the list, with a rate of 12 per 1000.

The statistics showed the number of abortions in Scotland rose slightly last year to 12,448. The national rate worked out at 11.8 per 1000 women, up from 11.6 the previous year.

A total of 309 girls aged under 16 had an abortion in 2004. That was fractionally down on the previous year, but the second-highest figure since 1996.

A breakdown at local authority level showed that 579 Dundee women had abortions last year, 167 of them aged under 20. The 20 to 29 age group accounted for most of the terminations, with only 10 over-40s.

Angus accounted for 278 abortions, 79 of them to under-20s, while Perth and Kinross had 291, with 88 under-20s. That brought the Tayside regional total to 1148.

A total of 823 Fife women had abortions, including 203 under-20s.

The NHS study also looked at the socio-economic status of the women involved.

In Tayside, some 20.7% were in the most deprived category, the second-highest after Lothian and well above the national average of 14.6%.

Only 14.2% of the Fife women who ended a pregnancy were in the lowest category.

The figures also show that nationally 66.1% of abortions last year happened within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.

However, around 78% of abortions in Tayside were carried out within 10 weeks — the highest in Scotland — and Fife was third from top on 74.6%.

Almost all abortions, 11,911 or 95.6%, were carried out on the grounds that continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the physical or mental health of the woman.

Around 55.8% were carried out medically, involving the use of drugs, rather than surgically. That is almost three-and-a-half times as many medical abortions as in 1992.