Now 28 per cent of babies are born to foreign mothers

THREE in ten births last year were to foreign mothers – the highest number on record.

The proportion has grown every year since 1990, when the figure was 11.6 per cent. It now stands at 28.2 per cent, according to the Office for National Statistics.

It said 196,348 out of 696,271 babies born in 2016 had a mother who came from abroad. The ONS said the figures showed that fertility levels were higher among foreign-born women and such women were more likely to be of childbearing age than the rest of the population. The number of births fell 0.2 per cent from 2015.

Alp Mehmet, of the think-tank MigrationWatch, said: ‘These figures sound yet another warning bell about the impact of mass immigration – which is as clear as day to the public. Unless net migration comes down, the pressures on housing, schools and services will be unremitting because of the resulting growth in our population.

‘At this rate, we will have to provide for another five million people by 2027, largely due to immigration. The Government has no alternative but to honour its manifesto commitment to reduce net migration to sustainable levels.’

The latest figures are not broken down by the country of birth of foreign mothers.

But data for 2015 showed that Poles topped the list with 22,928 babies – seven times as many as in 2005. Pakistan ( 17,342), India (13,780) and Romania (8,752) were next. In December it emerged that seven in ten children born in London had at least one foreign-born parent – with the figure as high as 86 per cent in some suburbs.

The new ONS bulletin revealed that the total fertility rate, which predicts how many children a typical woman would have in their lifetime, fell to 1.81, down from 1.82 a year earlier.

The average age of mothers in 2016 increased to a new peak of 30.4 years, compared with 30.3 years in 2015. Women aged 40 and over had a higher fertility rate than women aged under 20 for the second time since 1947.

Fertility rates for women under 24 were at their lowest level since records began in 1938. The ONS said: ‘Women have been increasingly delaying childbearing to later in life, which has resulted in rising fertility rates among older women.

‘This may be due to a number of factors such as increased female participation in higher education and the labour force, the increasing importance of a career, the rising costs of childbearing, labour market uncertainty and housing.’

Nearly half of babies – 47.6 per cent – were born outside marriage or civil partnerships last year, a slight dip on 2015.

Nicola Haines of the ONS said: ‘The percentage of births outside of marriage or civil partnership has remained relatively unchanged since 2012, following a notable increase from 5 per cent in the mid-1950s.

‘This increase coincided with cohabitation becoming more common as an alternative to marriage, particularly at younger ages.’

The figures showed a historic low in teenage pregnancy rates. Just 22,465 births were to mothers aged under 20, a further fall from 2015’s record low of 23,948.

Some experts will suggest the decline can partly be explained by the introduction of sex education classes in schools – meaning children are aware of the pitfalls of falling pregnant at a young age.

Ann Berrington, professor of demography and social statistics at the University of Southampton, said the decline in births out of wedlock would be linked to the fall in teen pregnancy.

‘Fewer births are taking place at ages where the rates of non-marital fertility are highest,’ she said. ‘The partnership context of first birth is increasingly cohabitation and decreasingly marriage, and that this is especially the case for women with less education.’

In 2016, the East of England and the West Midlands were the regions of England with the highest total fertility rate, with 1.91 children per woman. The North East and London had the lowest – 1.72 children per woman.

The stillbirth rate fell to 4.4 per 1,000, the least since 1992.

‘Sound another warning bell’