FOI reference: FOI-2026-3768
You asked
Please provide the annual number of live births in England and Wales broken down by the baby's ethnic group.
To ensure clarity and avoid any ambiguity, please apply the following parameters to this dataset:
Timeframe: Please provide individual figures for each calendar year from the start of 2020 to the end of 2025 inclusive.
Data Source: I understand that ethnicity is not captured on standard civil birth registrations but is instead recorded via the NHS birth notifications dataset linked to birth registrations. Please use this linked notification dataset for your response.
Ethnicity Categorisation: Please break the numbers down using the standard ONS high-level ethnic groups (White, Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups, Asian/Asian British, Black/African/Caribbean/Black British, and Other ethnic group) AND the detailed 18-group ethnic classifications if disclosure control protocols permit.
Format: Please provide this information in an editable electronic format, preferably an Excel (.xlsx) or CSV file.
If any of this information is already available via existing ONS ad-hoc data tables, please direct me to the specific URL links rather than applying a blanket exemption. If a full breakdown of certain detailed sub-categories is restricted due to low-count disclosure rules, please provide the higher-level aggregated figures instead of withholding the entire data set.
We said
Thank you for your request.
We routinely publish the number of births by ethnicity of the baby as stated by the mother on our website. These statistics are produced by linking birth registrations with the corresponding NHS birth notification records.
Figures for births occurring in each year 2023 to 2025 using our 12-category ethnicity grouping are available in table 6 of our Births in England and Wales publication.
Equivalent figures for births occurring in each year 2020 to 2022 are available in table 7 of our Birth Characteristics in England and Wales publication.
We have not published figures for live births occurring between 2020 and 2025 using either the five high-level ethnic groups or the detailed 18-group classification. The published 12-category ethnicity groupings can be aggregated to the five high-level ethnic groups:
"Bangladeshi", "Indian", "Pakistani" and "Any other Asian background" sum to calculate the "Asian" high-level category
"Black African", "Black Caribbean" and "Any other Black background" sum to calculate the "Black" high-level category
"White British" and "Any other White background" sum to calculate the "White" high-level category
Mixed/Multiple Ethnic Group
Any Other Ethnic Group
Additional breakdowns may be available to order as a bespoke user requested dataset, subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreements of costs in line with our charging policy. Please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk if you wish to discuss a bespoke request further.