Falling number of births to UK-born mothers in Peterborough

Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that non-UK-born women living in Peterborough were responsible for 1,306 children born in 2019 – 47 per cent of all deliveries.

That was slightly up from 2018, when 46.8 per cent of births were to mothers born abroad.

Across England and Wales, the proportion of births to foreign-born mothers rose from 28.2 per cent to 28.7 per cent last year – the highest rate since records began in 1969 and continuing a general long-term increase.

The ONS said a rise in the proportion of births to non-UK-born mothers “coincides with increases in immigration since the 1990s, where more international migrants have entered the UK for work and study reasons”. Much of this work-related migration has been by younger individuals or couple of child-bearing age, while British-born women have tended to leave having children until later and later in life due to economic and career factors.

It added that migration has contributed to the number of births remaining higher than the number of deaths, despite fertility rates nearing their lowest level since records began.

Data shows that in Peterborough, the most common region of origin for non-UK-born mothers giving birth was the EU – 727 births were to mothers born there.

A further 45 were from European countries outside of the EU, 388 from the Middle East and Asia, 104 from Africa and 42 from elsewhere.

Overall, 2,779 Peterborough women gave birth last year, a decrease from 2018.

The figures include long-time residents who moved here when they were younger, as well as those who moved to the UK more recently, the ONS said.

Across England and Wales, Poland remained the most common country of birth for mothers born outside the UK, while Pakistan was the most popular country of birth among non-UK-born fathers.

There were around 640,000 births in the two countries last year, although this includes a small number of mothers whose usual residence was elsewhere.

This was down from 657,000 the year before.

A June report by Georgina Sturge, migration and justice statistics specialist at the House of Commons Library, said the UK’s migrant population is concentrated in London – more than a third of people living in the UK who were born abroad live in the capital.

In Brent, London, 75.2 per cent of newborns had mothers born overseas, while in Staffordshire Moorlands in the West Midlands, the figure stood at just 3.4 per cent.