Why festive frolics mean most babies arrive in late September

FROLICKING over the festive period has been blamed for an annual spike in births in late September.

Official data shows that over the past two decades, more babies were born in England and Wales on September 27 than any other day.

September 24 was the second most popular date, and nine of the top ten dates were between the end of September and early October, the Office for National Statistics found. Analysts say one reason September birthdays are so common is because couples have more sex over the Christmas break.

Others say it’s because parents want children who are the oldest in their school year.

At the other end of the list, Boxing Day was the least common date of birth, followed by Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. December 27 and 28 completed the bottom five. The ONS said births over the festive period were least common because NHS hospitals will generally deliver only natural births and emergency C-sections. Induced births and elective caesareans are likely to be scheduled for later dates.

The ONS report also found that 2021 was the first year on record in which the majority of babies were born out of wedlock. Of the 624,828 live births recorded, 51. per cent were registered to women who were not in a marriage or civil partnership, up from 47.2 per cent a decade earlier. But the ONS said: ‘We do not yet know the full impact of the pandemic on marriage and civil partnership statistics.’

The average age of mothers was 0.9 and fathers 33.7.