Births by parents’ country of birth, England and Wales: 2022

Other commentary from the latest births data can be found on the following pages:

• Births in England and Wales: 2022

• In England and Wales, 30.3% of all live births were to non-UK-born mothers in 2022; an increase from 28.8% in 2021, continuing the long-term trend of the percentage of live births to non-UK-born mothers generally increasing.

• In 2022, India replaced Romania as the most common country of birth for non-UK-born mothers, and Pakistan as the most common country of birth for non-UK-born fathers. 

• In 2022, two-thirds of live births in London occurred to parents where either one or both parents were born outside of the UK; London continues to have the highest percentage of such births out of all the English regions and Wales.

In 2022, 30.3% of all live births in England and Wales were to non-UK-born women, up from 28.8% of all live births in 2021. This is the highest proportion of live births to non-UK-born women seen since our records began and continues the long-term trend of a generally increasing proportion.

In England and Wales, the number of live births to UK-born women decreased from 445,055 in 2021 to 422,109 in 2022. This was in contrast to 2021 when there was an increase in the total number of live births, because of an increase in the number of births to UK-born women.

The number of live births to non-UK-born women increased from 179,726 in 2021 to 183,309 in 2022. Before 2016, there was a trend of live births to non-UK-born mothers generally increasing, but in 2017 the number of live births to non-UK-born mothers started to decrease (Figure 1). The 2.0% increase of live births to non-UK-born mothers between 2021 and 2022 is the first increase in five years.

The increase of live births to non-UK-born mothers between 2021 and 2022, is because of an increase in non-EU-born mothers. In 2022, there were 125,272 live births to non-UK-born mothers, who were born outside of the EU, a 7.3% increase from 2021 when there were 116,734. Over the last two years, long-term international migration has also increased (as shown in our bulletin). This has largely been caused by immigration of non-EU nationals, while net migration of non-EU nationals has been higher than net migration of EU nationals since the year ending March 2019. This is likely to have added to the population of non-EU women of childbearing age usually resident in England and Wales.

In 2022, 35.8% of all live births in England and Wales had either one or both parents who were non-UK-born, an increase from 34.2% in 2021. In 2022, the majority of jointly registered live births where both parents were born outside of the UK occurred to parents who were both born in the same broad country group. 

India replaced Romania as the most common birth country for non-UK-born mothers with 17,745 live births to women born in India, a 16.3% increase from 15,260 in 2021. Romania went from the most common country of birth to non-UK-born mothers in 2021 to the third most common in 2022. However, the number of live births to mothers born in Romania remained relatively stable with 15,894 in 2021 and 15,518 in 2022.

In 2022, Afghanistan appeared in the top ten most common birth countries for non-UK-born mothers, for the first time since reporting began in 2003, at position 7. This coincides with the increase in Afghan arrivals to the UK, reported in our Long-term international migration bulletin, through the UK government resettlement schemes, which began in 2021.

Figure 2: India became the most common country of birth for non-UK-born mothers for the first time since reporting began in 2003

Ten most common countries of birth for non-UK-born mothers, England and Wales, 2016, 2019, 2022

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India replaced Pakistan as the most common birth country for non-UK-born fathers in 2022. There were 18,013 live births to fathers born in India in 2022, a 16.6% increase from 15,452 in 2021. Pakistan had previously been the most common birth country for non-UK-born fathers since reporting began in 2008. Despite the move down to the second most common country of birth for non-UK-born fathers, the actual number of live births to Pakistan-born fathers increased. In 2022, 17,393 fathers were born in Pakistan, up from 16,375 in 2021.

Figure 3: India became the most common country of birth to non-UK-born fathers for the first time since reporting began in 2008

Ten most common countries of birth for non-UK-born fathers, England and Wales, 2016, 2019, 2022

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In 2022, the percentage of live births where either one or both parents were born outside of the UK was 36.7% in England (from 35.1% in 2021), and 16.1% in Wales (from 15.5% in 2021).

Out of all the English regions and Wales, London had the highest percentage of live births where either one or both parents were born outside of the UK, with 66.5% in 2022, an increase from 65.5% in 2021. This continues a trend of London having the highest percentage of live births occurring to non-UK-born parents. 

In 2022, the local authority of Brent had the highest percentage of live births where either one or both parents were born outside of the UK at 82.3%; Copeland had the smallest percentage at 6.0% (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Percentage of live births where either one or both parents were born outside of the UK by local authority district, England and Wales, 2016 to 2022

Notes:

1. Figures are based on mothers’ usual area of residence, based on boundaries as of May 2023.

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Please filter the explorable datasets for births in England and Wales, 2022 data will be added as soon as they are available: 

• Live births in England and Wales: birth rates down to local authority areas (2013 onwards)   

• Live births in England and Wales by sex and characteristics of mother: national and regional (2013 onwards)    

• Live births in England and Wales by characteristics of mother and father (2013 onwards)   

• Live births in England and Wales down to local authority local area (2013 onwards)   

• Live births in England and Wales for small geographic areas (2013 onwards)

Live birth

A baby showing signs of life at birth.  

A more complete glossary is available from our User guide to birth statistics.

These data are birth registrations for live births occurring in each calendar year, plus a small number of late registrations from the previous year.  

Birth statistics represent births that occur and are then registered in England and Wales. Figures are derived from information recorded when live births and stillbirths are registered as part of civil registration, which is a legal requirement. Figures include mothers and fathers whose usual residence is outside England and Wales. These data represent the most complete data source available. 

The registration of births is a service carried out by the Local Registration Service in partnership with the General Register Office (GRO), in England and Wales. Birth registration is linked to the NHS birth notification within the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to obtain the age of the mother where this was missing on the birth registration. It also enables the analysis of further characteristics such as birthweight, ethnicity of the baby and gestation of live births. 

We have added Romania to our country groupings breakdown within the new EU group alongside Poland in our data tables. This is to reflect the increased number of live births to Romanian parents over recent years. 

Coronavirus (COVID-19) and birth statistics

Delays in birth registrations because of the coronavirus pandemic affected the cut-off dates for our annual birth registrations datasets for 2020 to 2022. The differences are detailed in our accompanying dataset and our User guide to births statistics.

More quality and methodology information on the strengths, limitations and accuracy of the data are available in our Birth statistics Quality and Methodology Information (QMI).

Our User guide to birth statistics methodology provides further information on data quality, legislation and procedures relating to births, and includes a glossary of terms.