FOI reference: FOI-2026-3695
You asked
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I request the following for every calendar year from 1950 to the most recent available:
Number of live births by age of mother in these groups: under 20, 20 to 24, 25 to 29, 30 to 34, 35 to 39, 40 to 44, 45 to 49.
Split by mother's country of birth: UK-born vs foreign-born (non-UK).
The corresponding mid-year (or equivalent) female population estimates for the same age groups and UK-born / foreign-born split.
If the UK-born and foreign-born split for mothers or for the female population is not available for the full period back to 1950, provide the combined (all mothers and all women) figures for those earlier years and state from which year the split becomes available.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
We produce data on the number of live births by mothers' country of birth and age-group in our Parents' country of birth time series. Please find data for the years 1982 to 2025 in the associated download.
We do not hold data on the country of birth of the mother for years 1950 to 1968.
For the years 1969 to 1981, we would need to create a custom output via our bespoke services for a charge. Such services are subject to legal frameworks, resources and agreement of costs, subject to our charging policy. If you would like to request this bespoke dataset, please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk to discuss your enquiry further. As this information is reasonably accessible via another route, even if only accessible on payment, Section 21(2)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) applies.
We collect data on population estimates by age-group, sex and country of birth as part of the census every 10 years. We have included the census population estimates in the attached file. Estimates for intervening years, or years prior to 1991, are not held by us. Please contact socialsurveys@ons.gov.uk who may be able to assist you with other population estimates.