The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) for 2009 shows an average of 1.96 children per woman in England and Wales. This represents a small decrease in fertility from 1.97 children in 2008. This is the first annual decrease since 2001 when the TFR fell to 1.63 from 1.65 in 2000. The TFR for 2009 is still comparably high. In 2008 the TFR was at its highest point in 35 years.
The number of live births in England and Wales also decreased for the first time in eight years. There were 706,248 live births in 2009 compared with 708,711 in 2008. This is the first fall in the annual number of live births since 2001.
There were 698,323 maternities in England and Wales in 2009. This is a decrease of 0.4 per cent, compared with 2008 when there were 701,297 maternities.
The General Fertility Rate (GFR) for 2009 was 63.7 live births per thousand women aged 15–44, a decrease compared with 63.8 in 2008. This is the first fall in the GFR since 2001, when the number of live births per thousand women aged 15–44 fell to 54.7 from 55.9 in 2000.
In 2009, there were decreases in fertility rates for women aged under 30 and increases for women aged 35 and over, compared with 2008; fertility rates for women aged 30–34 remained unchanged. The largest percentage decrease (2.7 per cent) occurred among women aged under 20. For this age group the fertility rate fell from 26 live births per thousand women aged under 20 in 2008 to 25.3 in 2009.
The highest percentage increase (2.4 per cent) occurred among women aged 40 and over. For this age group the fertility rate increased from 12.6 live births per thousand women aged 40 and over in 2008 to 12.9 in 2009. Over the last decade the number of live births to mothers aged 40 and over has nearly doubled from 14,252 in 1999 to 26,976 in 2009.
The standardised average (mean) age of women giving birth increased slightly to 29.4 in 2009, from 29.3 in 2008. The figure for 2009 is the highest on record.
There was a continued rise in the proportion of births to mothers born outside the UK: 24.7 per cent in 2009 compared with 24.1 per cent in 2008. In 1999, 14.3 per cent of births were to non-UK born mothers.
Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS)
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