Number of births in the UK - Data and Analysis (1980-2033)

Live birth numbers are expected to decrease at a compound annual rate of 1.3% over the five years through 2026-27, to 687,830.8 births in 2026-27. Declines over the past five years have reversed an established trend of rising birth numbers throughout the majority of the 2000s. The United Kingdom, like most developed economies, has a low birth rate partly as a result of high educational and employment opportunities for women, good access to birth control as well as a range of cultural, demographic and economic factors. Over the past five years the economic circumstances have further turned the tide against increasing birth numbers.In the first decade of the 2000's, a baby boom appeared to be materialising in the United Kingdom. The number of births increased rapidly from year to year spurred on by a consistently strengthening economy, high levels of net migration and greater numbers of women having children later in life. Immigration has been an important factor driving the birth rate in the United Kingdom, as long-term migrants are often of childbearing age and driving fertility rates. Growth in the number of births was also fuelled by a marked increase in fertility rates of females aged 30 and over, the older parents aided by In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatments that helped more prospective mothers to give birth and evidentially increased the number of multiple births. This is as two embryos are often implanted to give a greater chance of success.The rate of growth in the number of births slowed at the onset of the financial crisis and it appears that it has taken a prolonged economic downturn for annual birth figures across the United Kingdom to eventually start to come down. This is as people tend to put off pregnancy in times of economic uncertainty, though this is often delayed by nine months from an event. As a result, in the latter half of the period, economic uncertainty caused by elevated rates of inflation have caused birth rates to drop.