The provisional Total Fertility Rate (TFR) for 2008 gives an average of 1.95 children per woman in England and Wales. This is an increase from 1.92 in 2007 and is the seventh consecutive annual increase from a low point in 2001 when the TFR was 1.63. The last time the TFR exceeded 1.95 was 35 years previously in 1973 when it was 2.00.
The number of live births in England and Wales increased for the seventh successive year in 2008. There were 708,708 live births in 2008 compared with 690,013 in 2007. The number of live births has been increasing since 2001 and is now at the highest level since 1972 (725,440 live births).
The provisional General Fertility Rate (GFR) for 2008 was 63.5 live births per 1,000 women aged 15-44, an increase compared with 2007 when the GFR was 62.0.
In 2008, there have been increases in fertility rates for all age groups since 2007. The highest percentage increase (5.0 per cent) was observed for women aged 40 and over. For this age group the fertility rate rose from 12.0 live births per 1,000 women aged 40 and over in 2007 to 12.6 live births per 1,000 women aged 40 and over in 2008. Over the last decade the number of live births to mothers aged 40 and over has nearly doubled from 13,555 in 1998 to 26,419 in 2008.
The provisional standardised average (mean) age of women giving birth remained at 29.3 as in 2007.
There was a continued rise in the proportion of births to mothers born outside the UK: 24 per cent in 2008 compared with 23 per cent in 2007. In 1998, 14 per cent of births were to non-UK born mothers.
