The Covid pandemic has triggered a baby boom with the birth rate rising for the first time in more than a decade, official figures show.
There were 10.4 babies born for every 1,000 people in England and Wales in 2021, a slight increase compared to the 10.3 in 2020.
It was the first time since records began in 2011 that the birth rate rose year-on-year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
In total 625,008 children were born in the second year of the pandemic – marking a 1.5 per cent rise compared to in 2020, when there were 615,557.
It bucks a long-term trend of declining birthrates which has been attributed to an ageing population and women increasingly leaving it until later in life to have children.
The biggest increases were among babies born in the second half of the year, most of whom would have been conceived during lockdown curbs from November 2020 to March 2021.
Many experts predicted that couples being stuck indoors together and working from home would lead to a baby boom.
The greatest increase in 2021 was seen in women in their late thirties, with 62.5 births for every 1,000 women aged 30 to 35, up 5.2 per cent on the year before. There were 107.1 babies born to every 1,000 women aged 30 to 35 — a rise of 4.6 per cent.
The ONS said that despite the increase in birth rates, the number of babies born in 2021 was still ‘well below’ the pre-pandemic level. In 2011 there were 725,248 births, falling to 640,635 by 2019.
It found the majority of the increase in live births occurred during the second half of 2021, suggesting most babies were conceived during the second or third national lockdowns.
England went into its second national shutdown on November 5 in an attempt to stem rising cases, with the fire-breaker intervention lasting until December 2.
The emergence of the Alpha — or Kent — variant in the South East of England in December saw the whole of the UK forced back into draconian stay-at-home restrictions from January until March 2021.
Today’s ONS report showed that last November (4.6 per cent) and December (7.4 per cent) saw the largest increases in birth rates compared with the same months in 2020.
The ONS said: ‘Births occurring in the second half of 2021 will relate mostly to children conceived during coronavirus restrictions from November 2020 to March 2021’.
Many experts initially predicted there would be a baby boom after the first lockdown in spring 2020, in a similar fashion to the surge in births after World War II.
But when those predictions never came true, with experts speculating that money concerns and the stress of the pandemic may have given couples pause about starting a family.
The stillbirth rate in England and Wales also rose to 4.2 per 1,000 births — a 7.7 per cent increase on the year before. The ONS said the rate was mostly in line with pre-pandemic levels.
James Tucker, head of health and life events analysis at the ONS, said: ‘The number of births increased year-on-year for the first time since 2015.
‘However, the total number remains in line with the long-term trend of decreasing births observed in pre-coronavirus years.
‘There was also an increase in stillbirths compared with 2020, especially in the second half of 2021, and it is important to remember each and every stillbirth is a tragedy for the family involved.
‘While this increase coincides with a higher number of live births during this period, when looking at 2021 stillbirth rates in relation to historical years, they are mostly in line with what we saw prior to the pandemic.’
Babies born in some parts of the UK are expected to die at least a decade earlier than those in areas with the highest life expectancy, official figures reveal.
It comes after a separate report by the ONS earlier this year found most women in England and Wales no longer have a child before they are 30.
The January report found 50.1 per cent of women born in 1990 were childless by their 30th birthday.
It is the first time there has been more childless women than mothers below the age of 30 since records dating back to 1920 began.
A third of women born in that decade had not mothered a child by the age of 30, for comparison. Women born in the 1940s were the most likely to have had at least one child by that milestone (82 per cent).
But there has been a long-term trend of people opting to have children later in life and reduce family size ever since, the ONS said.
The most common age to have a child is now 31, the ONS estimates based on latest data, compared to 22 among baby boomers born in the late 1940s.
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