Fewer children are being born in England and Wales and the fertility rate is at its lowest level on record. But as we can learn from earlier generations, this is not the entire picture when measuring long-term fertility.
Fertility rates, which measure the number of children born per woman of childbearing age, have been gradually falling across the world and more than halved since 1963.
Our Births in England and Wales: 2023 release shows that the total fertility rate in England and Wales has fallen to its lowest level on record, at 1.44 children per woman.
The number of children born in England and Wales has been falling for the last decade and is at its lowest since 1977, while the average age of first-time mothers is at an all-time high.
There are several ways of measuring fertility, and many factors influencing the birth of a child.
Often, we don’t know the full story until women have completed their families, which is usually around the age of 45 years.
We can look back through earlier generations to explore different measures of fertility, what influenced them and how many children women had over their lifetimes.
Our birth statistics are mostly available for women because details for the father are not always captured on birth certificates.
Fertility through the generations
Meet our example family. They will represent generations of women through recent history in England and Wales to help explain how trends in fertility can change. For those who have children, we will check in with them on the year their first child was born.
1946 – Mary: motherhood in the post-war boom
This is Mary* – who gave birth to her first child in 1946.
Part of what is often known as the ‘Greatest Generation’, Mary was born in 1920 in a post-World War 1 baby boom. As a child she lived through the Great Depression and when she was 19 years old World War 2 broke out in Europe.
Women of Mary’s generation were unlikely to have children without getting married, with just 6.6% of babies born outside of marriage in 1946.
They were also unlikely to marry at an early age. Fewer than two-thirds (61.8%) of those born in 1920 like Mary were married before the age of 25, compared with 81.0% of women born in 1946.
In our example Mary has her first child at the age of 26 years. This was the average (median) age of first birth for women born in 1920, with 53% having a child before the age of 27 years.
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