The total number of births in England and Wales fell in 2025 to its lowest level since 1976, according to provisional figures from the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS).
A total of 585,396 live births were registered in 2025, a decline of 1.6 per cent from the previous year. The total fertility rate has fallen to 1.39 children per woman – the lowest ever recorded.
– Explosive increase in foreign-born parents
The figures show a clear demographic shift away from UK-born parents. 40.2 per cent of all children born in 2025 had parents where at least one parent was born outside the United Kingdom. This is up from 39.5 per cent in 2024 and represents an explosive increase over recent decades.
Only 56.4 per cent of children had parents who were both born in the UK. In 2008, the corresponding figure was significantly higher.
Demography is destiny:
The largest groups of foreign-born mothers come from India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Romania and Bangladesh.
The persistently low birth rate among UK-born people is used as an argument for maintaining high levels of immigration.