Newly published UK government data has revealed that the fertility rates in England and Wales have now plummeted to the lowest levels since records began in 1938.
The average total fertility rate (TFR) – the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime – was 1.44 children per woman in 2023.
The shocking plunge was revealed in new figures from the government’s Office for National Statistics (ONS).
In 2023, 591,072 live births were recorded.
The figure is the lowest number since 1977.
The new ONS data shows that birth rates are continuing to fall since 2021.
Figures for 2022 showed the average TFR had declined to 1.49 children per woman, down from 1.55 in 2021.
“Total fertility rates declined in 2023,” Greg Ceely, head of population health monitoring at the ONS, said in a statement.
“Looking in more detail at fertility rates among women of different ages, the decline in fertility rates has been the most dramatic in the 20-24 and 25-29 age groups.”
This latest data comes amid warnings that the UK’s fertility rate is falling faster than any other G7 country.
Research by thinktank the Centre for Progressive Policy (CPP) discovered the UK’s fertility rate has now dropped by 18.8%.
Women have increasingly had children at older ages, with only one in five women born in 1997 having a child before the age of 25.
This rate is the lowest of any earlier generation.
Research from the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies found that factors such as not feeling ready, financial pressures, and not finding the right partner are preventing millennials who want children from starting families.
The cost of housing and childcare has also been cited as reasons.
Some people say they do not feel ready to have children because other major life events are happening later.
According to the ONS, a fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman is needed on average to ensure the long-term “natural” replacement of the population.
Yet the rate has been falling in recent years and there is a similar picture globally.
The global total fertility rate was 2.3 children per woman in 2022, less than half the rate (5.3) in 1963.
Most countries around the world are now seeing a decline.
The lowest fertility rate is in Taiwan, where women have 1.09 children on average, according to CIA data.
Taiwan is closely followed by South Korea with a rate of 1.11, and Singapore at 1.17.
Ukraine, Hong Kong, Macau, Italy, and Moldova are also seeing the lowest rates.
Despite falling fertility rates, populations are still showing growth.
Many Western nations are masking the issue due to the large numbers of foreign third-world migrants being imported each year.
However, population collapse is only being delayed by replacing natural-born citizens with foreign migrants.
As it continues to fall, the fertility rates are dangerously unsustainable.
