The number of people born in the UK who died last year was higher than the number of births to UK-born mothers for the first time, new figures show.

In 2018, there were 471,476 live births to UK-born mothers and 487,618 deaths of UK-born persons registered in England and Wales.

A comparison of trends in births and deaths in England and Wales over time shows a natural increase (more births than deaths) in every year since records began in 1838, with the exception of 1976 and 1977, according to the Office for National Statistics.

However, the difference between the total number of births and deaths has been decreasing in the last decade. In 2012 there were 230,343 more births than deaths, but that gap has narrowed to just 115,487 in 2018.

When comparing births to UK-born mothers only, against the deaths of people born in the UK, figures show the first natural decrease (more deaths than births) since comparable datasets were first available in 2008.