Rate drops by 46% from its ultimate peak in 1947 as 657,076 babies are born

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The birthrate in England and Wales has hit its lowest level since records began, government statistics have shown.

In total, there were 657,076 live births in England and Wales last year – a fall of 3.2% from the previous year and down by 10% from 2012.

The number of live births fell from 11.6 per 1,000 people to 11.1, the lowest since records started in 1938.

The figures, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), also showed that the percentage of live babies with mothers not born in the UK also fell for the first time since 1990, from 28.4% to 28.2%.

Since 1947, the rate has dropped by 45.9%, when the number of babies being born was at its ultimate peak.

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Although Britain’s ageing population means the proportion of older people compared with women of childbearing age is increasing, the record low in crude birthrates is mostly being driven by falling fertility rates.

Except for 1977 and the period between 1999 and 2002, total fertility rates are also lower than all previous years since records began.

ONS figures show that overall fertility rates stood at 1.7 children per woman in 2018, a 3.4% decrease from the year before, when the rate was 1.76.

While crude birthrates are calculated per 1,000 of the entire population, regardless of sex or age, total fertility rates refer only to women between 15 and 44 years old, who are deemed to be of childbearing age.

Although women aged 40 and over were the only demographic for whom the rate of fertility did not fall, in 2018 the rate stalled for the first time since the 1970s, at 16.1 per 1,000.

As has been the trend since the millennium, fertility rates fell for women under 20 years of age. In 2018 the number of births per 1,000 women in the group dropped to 11.9 – down 6.3% from the previous year.

Although before 2004 women aged 25 to 29 generally had the highest fertility rate, for the past 15 years women aged 30 to 34 have taken the lead.

In 2018 stillbirths reached a record low for the second year running, with 4.1 per 1,000 total births.

Ann Berrington, a professor in demography and social statistics at the University of Southampton, said the reasons for the birthrate decline were likely to differ between age groups. As well as “changing aspirations” she said education and expectations were among the possible reasons for fewer teenagers having babies.

“There’s been government legislation which means the school leaving age has increased to 18. There’s also been significant improvements in the availability of emergency and long-acting contraception,” she said.

Berrington added that she thought people in their 20s and 30s were more likely to postpone having children because of practical factors such as the lack of affordable housing.