INDIA replaced Romania as the most common birth country for non-UK-born mothers in England and Wales in 2022, the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed.
There were 17,745 live births to women born in India, a 16.3 per cent increase from 15,260 in 2021, the data published on Thursday (17) stated.
The other countries in the top five are Pakistan, Romania, Poland and Nigeria.
Also, India replaced Pakistan as the most common birth country for foreign-born fathers last year. India reached the top of the list for the first time since reporting began in 2008.
According to ONS, there were 18,013 live births to fathers born in India in 2022, a 16.6 per cent 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.
Meanwhile, the actual number of live births to Pakistan-born fathers increased to 17,393 in 2022 from 16,375 the previous year.
In 2022, Afghanistan appeared in the top ten most common birth countries for non-UK-born mothers, for the first time since 2003.
Romania went from the most common country of birth to foreign-born mothers in 2021 to the third most common last year. 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 England and Wales, 30.3 per cent of all live births were to non-UK-born mothers in 2022; an increase from 28.8 per cent in 2021.
London had the highest percentage of live births where either one or both parents were born outside of the UK, with 66.5 per cent in 2022, an increase from 65.5 per cent in 2021.
Among local authorities, Brent (82.3 per cent) had the highest percentage of live births where either one or both parents were born outside of the UK and Copeland had the smallest percentage (6 per cent).
Meanwhile, the number of live births in England and Wales had fallen to its lowest level in 2022 since records began in 2002.
There were 605,479 live births in England and Wales in 2022, a 3.1 per cent decrease from 624,828 in 2021 and the lowest in two decades.
The highest number of live births in 2022 was in October (8.7 per cent) and the lowest was in February (7.7 per cent).
Since 2011, the number of babies born has been on an almost constant downward trend, falling each year from 2011 to 2020 before a small rise in 2021 as pandemic restrictions were eased.
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, according to ONS.
The data also revealed that 311,306 live births (51.4 per cent) were registered to women outside of a marriage or civil partnership in 2022, more than within marriage.
Damian Talbot