The figures also showed the share of babies born to British parents has slipped, from 62% to 60.3%, and the overall number of births sank to 6,05,479. That’s the lowest since 2002, and points toward slower population growth that could be a drag on both the economy and labor market in the decades ahead. The number of children born to parents who were both from abroad hit 139,953 last year, up from 134,308 a year earlier and its highest level since 2017. Numbers have remained relatively flat for births involving one non-UK-born parent, while births to two UK-born parents have fallen to 3,65,111, the lowest level since 2008. A rise in the number of people immigrating in recent years is likely to have led to the jump in migrant parents in 2022. A record 606,000 more people moved to the UK than departed last year. India overtook Romania as the most common country of birth of foreign new mothers. India also replaced Pakistan as the most common country of birth for non-UK-born new fathers.
The “increase in the number of non-UK born mothers is a good thing” given the UK’s own falling birth rate, said Jonathan Portes, professor of economics at King’s College London. But declining numbers of overall births is the “real story here,” he said, adding that it’s a “serious long-term social problem for us.” The rising number of births to foreign parents could help ease fears that the UK will face a labour crunch. But more than half of the public favour a cut in immigration, a recent survey showed, suggesting rising numbers of births to migrant families could be a thorny issue for voters in 2024.