Fertility rate in England and Wales drops to new record low

Fertility rates have dropped to a record low in England and Wales, ITV News’ Health Correspondent Rebecca Barry explains the data
Fertility rates across England and Wales have dropped to new record low, with the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime falling to 1.44 per woman in 2023.
While fertility rates across the two nations has been in overall decline since 2010, the rate is now at its lowest value since records began in 1938.
While the numbers of live births across the two nations has also fallen to its lowest in five decades.
Among the groups most impacted are among women aged 20-24 with rates down 79% from 181.6 live births per 1,000 women in 1964 to 38.6 in 2023. While the average age of new mothers remained the same, the average age of fathers increased from 33.7 in 2022 to 33.8 last year.
The regions experiencing the biggest drops in overall fertility were Wales (1.46 to 1.39) and North West England (1.53 to 1.46) followed by London (1.39 to 1.35). The North East and West Midlands experienced the smallest decreases out of all the regions.
According to the ONS, the fertility rate is defined by the average number of children a group of women would have if they experienced the age-specific fertility rates throughout their childbearing life.
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The data, which also covers stillbirth rates, said those fell in Wales from a rate of 4.4 per 1,000 births in 2022 to 4.0, and stayed the same in England at 3.9 stillbirths per 1,000 births.
Stillbirth rates decreased in the black, mixed or multiple, and white ethnic groups for England and Wales compared with 2022, but rates rose in the Asian and “any other” ethnic groups, the ONS said.
Stillbirth rates overall remain higher for Asian, black, and “any other” ethnic groups than the England and Wales overall rate.
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