· The number of abortions set a record in the first quarter of last year when 50,900 women in England and Wales terminated pregnancies. The Office for National Statistics said the rate reached 18.6 abortions per 1,000 women, after rising steadily since the 1970s.

The number of women aged 30-34 having abortions has nearly doubled since 1976 from 14,600 to 28,700 in 2003.

Peter Goldblatt, ONS chief medical statistician, said this might be due to more women delaying pregnancy until their thirties and finding abnormalities during scans.

The rate of teenage conceptions fell from 42.8 per thousand women under 18 in 2002 to 42.3 in 2003. The south London borough of Lambeth had the highest rate at 104.9.

· The death toll from the heatwave in August 2003 was more than double the estimates at the time. The ONS said 2,091 more people died in England over a 10-day period than was usual for the time of year. The number of deaths was 17% above average nationally, rising to 42% above average in London.

People over 75 were worst hit as temperatures broke records, reaching 38.5C (101F) in Brogdale, Kent, on August 10. Deaths in the heatwave provoked a crisis in France, where ministers were blamed for lack of preparedness, but there was little protest in Britain.

· The number of women whose death was linked to drug misuse reached a record in 2003. They rose from 321 to 346. Among men in England and Wales, they declined from a peak of 1,666 in 2000 to 1,042.

· The rapid rise in HIV infections may have slowed last year, figures from the government's Health Protection Agency suggested yesterday.

The 5,016 cases in 2004 is slightly down on the 5,047 for 2003 and follows two years of 20% rises. But there are still twice as many infections as in 1999.

Sir William Stewart, the agency's chairman, said: "We must not leap to conclusions and we will continue to monitor the situation closely."

The proportion of new cases acquired through heterosexual sex - nearly three in five - is slowly rising. Of these, eight in 10 infections are acquired abroad, mainly in areas of high HIV prevalence, such as sub-Saharan Africa. There are also clear signs, says the agency, that heterosexual transmission of HIV in Britain, although at low levels, is gradually rising.