Other information

Coverage

England and Wales

Units

Live births

Contact details for this dataset

Nomis
Telephone: +44(0) 191 3342680

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This dataset provides statistics on live births in England and Wales. Further https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths[birth statistics] are available on the Office for National Statistics website.

Important information for interpreting these birth statistics:

  • birth statistics represent births that occurred in England and Wales in the calendar year, but include a very small number of late registrations from the previous year
  • figures are compiled from information supplied when births are registered as part of civil registration, a legal requirement. Our https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/methodologies/birthsqmi[Birth Statistics Quality and Methodology Information] contains important information on:

  • the strengths and limitations of the data and how it compares with related data

  • uses and users of the data
  • how the output was created
  • the quality of the output including the accuracy of the data Our https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/methodologies/userguidetobirthstatistics[User Guide to Birth Statistics] provides further information on data quality, legislation and procedures relating to births and includes a glossary of terms. Information about how rates are calculated is also included.

For more information on birth statistics and feedback on this dataset please contact

Office for National Statistics email: health.data@ons.gov.uk telephone: +44(0)1329 444110

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About the variables

Registration type (4 categories)

A birth within marriage or civil partnership is that of a child born to parents who were lawfully married or in a civil partnership either:

  • at the date of the child’s birth
  • when the child was conceived, even if they later divorced or were granted a civil partnership dissolution or the father or second parent died before the child’s birth

Births occurring outside marriage or civil partnership may be registered either jointly or solely. A joint registration records details of both parents and requires them both to be present. A sole registration records only the mother’s details. In a few cases a joint registration is made in the absence of the father or second parent if an affiliation order or statutory declaration is provided. Information from the birth registration is used to determine whether the mother and father or second parent jointly registering a birth outside marriage or civil partnership were usually resident at the same address at the time of registration. Births with both parents at the same address are identified by a single entry for the informant’s usual address, while different addresses are identified by two entries.

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Country of birth of father (5 categories)

A listing of which countries are included in each of the groupings can be found in the ONS https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/datasets/parentscountryofbirth[Parents’ country of birth release]

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Country of birth of mother (5 categories)

A listing of which countries are included in each of the groupings can be found in the ONS https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/datasets/parentscountryofbirth[Parents’ country of birth release]

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Age of father (11 categories)

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 contained provisions enabling two females in a same-sex couple to register a birth from 1 September 2009 onwards. For births registered under this Act, the age of second parent has been included with age of father. Given the relatively small number of births registered to same sex couples, this has a negligible impact on the statistics.

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Age of mother (9 categories)

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Release calendar

Release DateStatusReference Period
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17 May 24Released2022
22 Sep 22Released2021
14 Oct 21Released2020
22 Jul 20Released2019
1 Aug 19Released2018
18 Jul 18Released2017

Revisions and corrections

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