England And Wales Record Lowest Fertility Rate In 50 Years, ONS Estimates 1.39 In 2025

England and Wales have recorded a new record low fertility rate, with the provisional total fertility rate estimated at 1.39 in 2025, down from 1.41 in 2024.

“- Published "It's just not a very nice world to bring people into, and why would I consciously do that when I can choose not to”

BBC

The Office for National Statistics data published on Wednesday showed 585,396 live births in England and Wales last year, falling from 594,677 in 2024 and the lowest number since 1977 when there were 569,259 live births.

BBC

ONS head of population health monitoring 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.”

The ONS said Boxing Day – December 26 – remained the least frequent birth date since 2013, while last year May 28 ranked the most frequent for the first time since 1999.

The BBC reported that births fell for the fourth year in a row in 2025 to their lowest level in nearly half a century, citing the ONS for the 585,000 live births figure.

Stacey Waring, 40, a nurse from Nottingham, told the BBC: “It's just not a very nice world to bring people into, and why would I consciously do that when I can choose not to?”

Waring said that global uncertainty has made her think twice about starting a family, and she added: “If I'd had children, I'd have had to reduce my hours at work.”

https

Georgina Tuffour, 35, a trainee nurse, said the rising cost of living makes it difficult to have more children, and she told the BBC: “I've had to say to them that I cannot afford to sign all of them up and that breaks my heart, so imagine having another?”

The BBC also quoted Dr Paula Sheppard, an anthropologist at the University of Oxford, saying the rising cost of living partly explains why people are waiting until they have “a lot more proverbial ducks in a row” before having more children.

The Stowmarket Mercury piece reported that Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson suggested people had been put off having children because of financial constraints including rising mortgage and rent repayments, fuel and food prices, as well as childcare costs.

The ONS data described by the Stowmarket Mercury showed four in 10 live births in England and Wales last year where at least one parent was born outside the UK (40.2%), up from 39.5% in 2024.

“The fertility rate for England and Wales has fallen to a new record low, figures suggest”

Stowmarket Mercury

The BBC said births where at least one of the parents was born outside of the UK increased to 40%, up from 30% over the same timeframe, and it reported that women are having their first child later than ever before at an average age of 29.6 years old.

Dr Paula Sheppard told the BBC that falling birth rates can have a self-perpetuating psychological effect, arguing that “if you grow up in a society not seeing lots of babies, then it becomes harder for you to have babies [yourself].”

The Stowmarket Mercury report said the latest provisional figures are based on the 2025 projected population, and final rates are expected to be released later this year.

In the West Asian article, the same ONS live-birth figure of 585,396 is framed as a “demographic collapse” that “threatens severe long-term economic chaos,” and it says “At stake is the long-term viability of the nation's pension systems, the NHS, and the broader labor market.”