The number of newborns in England and Wales has dropped to a 20-year-low in 2022, official data show.
It’s the 27th lowest since records began in 1838.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 605,479 babies were born alive in 2022, around 3.1 percent down from the previous year.
The number of live births in England and Wales has been falling every year since 2015 except for a 1.77 percent rebound in 2021 following COVID-19 lockdowns. ONS data appears to show the one-off increase was solely driven by births out of wedlock.
In 2021, the number of births outside of wedlock surpassed those within for the first time. The ban on social gatherings, including weddings, during the pandemic, is likely to have contributed to the increase. However, the number of births outside of wedlock, while decreased in 2022, remained higher than the number of those born within a marriage or civil partnership.
Immigrant Parents Most Likely From India
Nearly a quarter (23.1 percent) of babies born in 2022 have two non-UK-born parents. A further 12.1 percent have one immigrant parent.
The rates in London were around double the national average with almost half (46.6 percent) of the newborns having two immigrant parents and 20 percent having one immigrant parent.
A breakdown by sex show that 28.6 of the fathers were born outside of the UK.
The percentage of non-UK-born mothers reached a record high of 30.3 in 2022, compared to 28.8 percent in 2021 and 25.9 percent in 2012.
Data suggest it’s driven by the falling number of births by UK-born women rather than an increase in immigrant mothers.
The number of newborns to immigrant mothers did increase by 1.99 percent in 2022 after falling for five consecutive years.
The increase was driven by an increase in non-EU-born mothers and partly offset by a decrease in EU-born mothers.
India and Pakistan have overtaken Romania to become the most likely birth countries of immigrant mothers despite the number of newborns to Romanian mothers remaining stable.
In 2022, some 17,745 newborns’ mothers were from India, a 16.3 percent increase from 15,260 in 2021, the ONS said.
The number of babies born to Pakistani mothers increased by 5.5 percent to 16,654.
Pakistan was the most likely birth country of an immigrant father in 2021, but it has become number two despite an increase in number with India taking the top spot.
The number of newborns to an Indian father was 18,013 in 2022, 16.6 percent up from the previous year.
The number of Pakistani dads who had a newborn in 2022 was 17,393, around 6.2 percent up from that in 2021.
Afghanistan appeared for the first time in the top ten most common birth countries for non-UK-born parents, ranking number seven among both mothers and fathers. It coincides with the increase of Afghan immigrants after the country was taken over by the Taliban.
Albania, which jumped up to the top ten most common birth countries for non-UK-born parents in 2021, remained in the top ten in 2022.
Falling Fertility Rate
The ONS didn’t publish the fertility rates for 2022 because mid-year 2022 population estimates were not available at the time of production.Previous release estimated that the UK’s total fertility rate in 2021, or the average number of children a woman has during her lifetime was 1.56, well below the 2.1 children needed for a population with a long life expectancy to naturally sustain its size.
The number has remained below 2.1 for the past half a century.
Besides an impending population decline, a lower birth rate and longer life expectancy mean a shrinking working-age population will need to pay more taxes to support the growing number of pensioners.
Paul Morland, a demographer and author, previously told The Epoch Times that unless fertility rates will go up, the UK will face a stark choice between economic decline or rising levels of immigrant labour.
According to ONS figures, in 2020, there was one pensioner in the UK for every 3.6 working-age people. By 2041, a pensioner will only be supported by around 2.8 working-age people.
