Newly released data on live births in the United Kingdom point to rapidly changing demographic trends in the country

The data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that last year 179,726, or 28.8 percent of births were to foreign-born women.

The most common country of origin for non-UK-born mothers was Romania, while for non-UK-born fathers, Pakistan remained top of the list.

Albanians made it into the top ten list of mothers for the first time last year with more than 3,000 babies, despite official figures putting the Albanian population in the U.K. at less than 50,000.

Campaign group, Migration Watch UK, said on Wednesday that this was “clear evidence that the [immigration] system is being exploited,” in the U.K., and follows news broken earlier this week which revealed that 4 in 10 of illegal immigrants crossing the English Channel from the European mainland currently are from Albania.

Since 2002, the U.K.’s population has grown by 8 million, with 80 percent of that figure related to immigration. The ONS indicates that as of 2020, 14.3 percent of the U.K.’s 66.3 million people were foreigners, with 6 million of them believed to be from non-EU countries.

ONS data also showed there were more babies born out of wedlock in England and Wales in 2021 than to married parents for the first time since records began in 1845.

In total, 624,828 live births were registered in England and Wales last year. Of these, 320,713 births, or 51.3 percent were to women who were unmarried at the time of delivery, compared to 304,115 produced by women who were married or in a civil partnership.

The total number of births was an increase of 1.8 percent on 2020, the first time the birthrate has increased in England and Wales since 2015.

The data also showed fertility rates among age groups were changing significantly. The fertility rate among women and girls under 20 years of age fell by 16 percent, while women aged 35-39 saw an increase in their fertility rate of 5 percent.

https://rmx.news/article/uk-nearly-1-in-3-births-are-to-foreign-born-mothers/