Britain relying on foreign mothers to push up fertility rates as UK population on the rise
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One in three babies born in Britain during 2023 had a foreign-born mother, marking a significant increase from a quarter of births in 2008.
The trend highlights Britain's growing reliance on foreign-born mothers to maintain birth rates across the country.
In more than one in 10 local authorities, over half of all live births were to foreign-born mothers.
The London borough of Brent recorded the highest proportion, with 76 per cent of births to mothers not born in the UK, followed closely by Newham in east London at 75 per cent.
The overall national fertility rate is now 1.6, which is the joint lowest since records began two decades ago
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Between 2022 and 2023, births to foreign-born mothers increased by 2.6 per cent. This increase was particularly driven by mothers from Western Africa, who saw a 32.5 per cent rise in births.
Indian mothers recorded a 21.2 per cent increase in births, while those from Bangladesh saw a 12.6 per cent rise.
The pattern reflects broader migration trends, with new analysis showing that a third of nationalities have more dependants than workers arriving on visas.
For instance, Zimbabwe recorded 21,102 dependants for 5,107 workers in the year ending September 2024.
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Similar patterns emerged with Nigeria, which saw 29,625 dependants for 7,926 workers, and Ghana with 11,249 dependants for 4,809 workers.
Despite the recent increases, fertility rates among foreign-born mothers have actually declined from their peak of 2.46 two decades ago.
Dr Paula Sheppard, of Oxford University, said: “University-educated women only start seeing the timing of when they have children as an important decision at age 33. Before this, it seems they do not consider it a pressing issue.
"This contrasts with all other groups for whom baby timing is a significant factor from the youngest ages (21 for university-educated men and 18 for non-university-educated men and women).”
The UK population is expected to reach 72.5 million by 2032, with net migration of 4.9 million accounting for the entire increase.
Between 2022 and 2032, approximately 9.9 million people are projected to move to the UK long-term.
During the same period, nearly five million are expected to emigrate.
Without immigration, ONS projections indicate the UK population would remain static.
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