Birth rates plunge to 50-year low while foreign-born parents account for record four in ten, official figures show

Published: 12:00, 27 May 2026 | Updated: 12:28, 27 May 2026 Births plunged to their lowest in half a century last year while foreign-born parents accounted for a record four in ten, official figures show. There were 585,396 live births in England and Wales last year - down from 594,677 the year before and the lowest since 1976 (584,270).  It was also the fourth lowest in 100 years, today's figures revealed. Meanwhile, in a sign of how diverse Britain’s population has become, the data showed 40 per cent of births (235,273) in 2025 were to parents where one or both were foreign-born. This is the highest proportion since 2008, when the Office for National Statistics started calculating the proportion of foreign-born parents. In a dozen areas across England and Wales, more than three-quarters of births were to parents where at least one was foreign-born. This was also the case for over half of births in more than 50 areas. The London borough of Brent recorded the largest proportion (84 per cent) of births where at least one parent was foreign born (3,748 of 4,456). Outside of the capital, Slough in Berkshire recorded the highest rate (79.2 per cent) followed by Luton (78.1 per cent). Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. India remained the most frequent country of birth recorded for foreign-born mothers (4.7 per cent) and fathers (4.9 per cent) for the third year in a row. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. Pakistan remained second and Nigeria third for both mothers and fathers.  As well as birth rates falling, the data highlighted the ongoing trend recorded for around 50 years of people delaying having children until later in life.  The average age of parents increased to 31.1 years old for mothers and 34 for fathers in 2025, up slightly from 31 and 33.9 in 2024 respectively. By contrast, in 1975, the average for mothers was 26.4 and 29.5 for fathers. Bizarrely, there was also a big percentage increase in the proportion of men (7.5 per cent) becoming fathers aged 60 to 64. The largest fall in births by age group was mothers under 20 years old (8.4 per cent). The number of live births decreased for parents under 34 years old last year compared to 2024 (11,353 fewer) and rose for parents over this age (2,059 more). Last year, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson suggested people had been putting off having children because of financial constraints including rising mortgage and rent repayments, fuel and food prices, as well as childcare costs. The ONS said Boxing Day – December 26 – remained the least frequent birth date since 2013. It added that the most frequent has been variable. But last year May 28 ranked the most frequent for the first time since 1999. The stillbirth rate remained stable for England (3.8 per 1,000 births in 2024 and 2025) and Wales (4.4 in 2024 to 4.2 in 2025). The agency’s Greg Ceely said: ‘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. ‘More than a third of births are to mothers born outside the UK which again continues recent trends.’ The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.