Births by parents’ country of birth, England and Wales: 2023

In 2023:

• 31.8% of all live births were to non-UK-born mothers in England and Wales (an increase from 30.3% in 2022); this continues a general increase in the percentage of live births to non-UK-born mothers.

• 37.3% of live births were to parents where either one or both were born outside the UK, increasing from 35.8% in 2022.

• India remained the most common country of birth for non-UK-born mothers and fathers, with Pakistan remaining second.

• London remained the region with the greatest proportion of births to parents where either one or both were born outside of the UK (67.4% of live births).

• Wales and the North East of England had the lowest proportions of births to parents where either one or both were born outside of the UK (17.5% and 20.5% of live births, respectively).

• The proportion of births to parents where either one or both were born outside the UK has been increasing across all regions.

• The proportion of births to mothers born outside the UK generally increases with the age group of the mother, from 15.8% of live births to mothers aged under 20 years, to 53.9% of live births to mothers aged 45 years and over.

Figure 1: 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 2023

Notes

1. Figures are based on mothers’ usual area of residence, based on boundaries as of August 2024.

Please filter our explorable datasets for births in England and Wales, including: 

• our Live births in England and Wales: birth rates down to local authority areas (2013 onwards) dataset   
• our Live births in England and Wales by sex and characteristics of mother: national and regional (2013 onwards) dataset 
• our Live births in England and Wales by characteristics of mother and father (2013 onwards) dataset
• our Live births in England and Wales down to local authority local area (2013 onwards) dataset 
• our Live births in England and Wales for small geographic areas (2013 onwards) dataset

Country of birth

The country in which a person was born.

Live birth

A baby showing signs of life at birth.  

A more complete glossary is available in 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. 

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in April 2012. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled "accredited official statistics".

Country of birth of each parent

The country of birth of each parent for children born in England and Wales has been recorded at birth registration since April 1969. The details for country of birth groupings can be found in our Parents' country of birth dataset, on the country code listings tab. Birthplace does not necessarily equate to ethnic group and does not imply that someone is a long-term international migrant. More information can be found in our Guidance on using country of birth, nationality, and passports held data.

Public consultation and our data

The ONS, together with the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, and UK Health Security Agency conducted a public consultation into health statistics, which closed in March 2024. This consultation collected views on how these organisations' health statistics are used, including a proposal to combine and reformat the ONS's annual birth statistics, and improve three publications:

• our Births in England and Wales bulletin

• our Birth characteristics in England and Wales bulletin

• our Births by parents' country of birth, England and Wales bulletin

The ONS, Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England, Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, and UK Health Security Agency will publish a full response to the consultation, summarising feedback on all proposals, later this year. Further improvements will be made in future releases.

More quality and methodology information

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

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