New data from Britain’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals a sharp decline in fertility rates and live births, with women having just 1.39 children each on average, and the share of children born to foreign-born mothers standing at over a third.
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❓ WHAT HAPPENED: England and Wales recorded their lowest fertility rate on record in 2025, with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimating women will have an average of 1.39 children over their lifetimes, down from 1.41 in 2024 and well below the 2.1 replacement level needed to maintain population stability without exponential mass migration. The number of live births also fell to 585,396, the lowest total since 1977, continuing a decade-long decline in births. Significantly, more than a third of births are now to mothers born outside Britain.
📺 DETAIL: ONS head of population health monitoring Greg Ceely said the figures reflect a long-term downward trend. The average age of mothers rose slightly to 31.1 in 2025, while fathers averaged 34.0, continuing a trend of older parenthood dating back to the 1970s. Four in 10 births last year involved at least one parent born outside the UK, with India the most common country of birth for non-UK-born mothers and fathers, followed by Pakistan and Nigeria. The London borough of Harrow had the highest share of births to non-UK-born mothers, at 78 percent, while the Isle of Anglesey had the lowest, at 4.7 percent.
💬 KEY QUOTE: “In 2025 the number of babies born fell to the lowest level in almost half a century and continues the long-term trend of falling births going back over the past decade.” – Greg Ceely, head of population health monitoring at the ONS
🎯 IMPACT: The declining fertility rate raises concerns about long-term demographic challenges, including a shrinking workforce and increased pressure on social services, while the high share of children born to parents from overseas heralds major cultural and demographic shifts in the coming decades.
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34.6% of live births in 2025 were to mothers born outside of the UK, an increase from 33.9% in 2024.
India remains the most frequent country of birth for non-UK-born mothers (4.7% of births) and fathers (4.9% of births) for the fourth year in a row.
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) May 27, 2026
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