The number of babies born to mothers in the UK has fallen to an all-time low, falling by 25% over the past 15 years, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed.
According to OzBritish women gave birth to a record 403,000 children last year, down from 538,000 in 2008, continuing a trend of collapsing birth rates across the Western world.
Overall, the UK's birth rate in 2023 will fall to just 1.44 children per woman, far below the 2.1 children needed for population replacement and the lowest birth rate since the government started tracking numbers in 1938. .
While native birth rates continue to decline, birth rates for certain immigrant groups within the country have increased: 73% for Indian mothers, 37% for West African women, and 32.6% for immigrant women from Romania and Poland. % increase. .
According to the country's official statistics agency, 37.3% of births last year were to couples where at least one parent was foreign-born, up from 35.8% the year before.
India remains the top country of origin for foreign-born parents, with 21,513 births last year, followed by Pakistan with 21,513 and Bangladesh with 21,513.
Together, parents from the three South Asian countries accounted for 7.9 per cent of the total number of children born in the UK last year, or one in 13 children.
As a multicultural hub, London leads the country in terms of the number of births to foreign parents, accounting for 67.4% of all births to foreign parents in the UK.
Several factors are thought to be responsible for the decline in birth rates, including cultural and economic factors, as well as increased female labor force participation and the advent of contraceptives.
One in four young people aged 18 to 25 say they are likely to never have children, according to the latest UK Generations and Gender Survey.
Brienna Perelli-Harris, Professor of Demography, University of Southampton said The BBC reported earlier this week. “Gen Z is more likely to want to not have children… In the past, it may have been more taboo, but now it's more accepted. It depends on economic factors.”
Housing costs, which have skyrocketed in recent decades amid mass migration and a lack of new supply, have also been cited as a major factor in the decline in birthrates.
Demographer John Amish said economist He said his research shows that 60 per cent of the decline in birth rates between 2013-2016 and 2017-2022 is likely the result of rising house prices. Ermisch said college-educated women are less likely to live in government housing or receive government subsidies for housing, so poor women are largely spared from rising housing prices. It was pointed out that it was having an impact on
