UK: The number of births is at its lowest level in two decades

INA - Agencies

Data released by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics revealed that the number of births in England and Wales fell to the lowest level in two decades.

According to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) , just over 605,000 babies were born in England and Wales in 2022, indicating that this is the lowest number of births recorded since 2002 and a decrease of nearly 20,000 (3%) from the previous year. 

The data stated that nearly a third of births (30%) in 2022 were to mothers from outside the United Kingdom, indicating that the largest percentage of births are from mothers from India and Romania, while the largest percentage of the fathers of these births are from Pakistan.

There were nearly 18,000 babies born to mothers born in India, an increase of 16% from 2021 .

The annual number of births in England and Wales "continues to decline", said James Tucker, head of health analysis at the Office for National Statistics, adding: "Almost a third of all these births are to women not born in the UK. This is the highest proportion of live births." of women not born in the UK who have been seen since the inception of our records.