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UK Wedding News

17/07/2015

Birth Rate In England And Wales Falls

The 2014 birth rate figures for England and Wales show a slight fall in the overall birth rate, but a rise in the number of births to women aged 30 or older, according to figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) said that the small birth rate drop was an opportunity to narrow the midwifery shortage.

In 2014, the ONS figures show there were 695,233 live births registered in England and Wales, a decrease by 0.5% from the previous year.

The figures reveal that there was an increase in the mean age of mothers at the point of giving birth – in 2013, it was 30 years old, rising to 30.2 years in 2014.

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In 2000, it was 28.5 years and, in 1990, it was 27.7 years.

RCM director for midwifery Louise Silverton said that, although there has been a slight drop in birth rate from the previous year, it was still a rise of nearly 100,000 births since the year 2000 when there were 604,441.

She said: "We remain around 2600 full-time midwives short in England. Midwives cannot deliver high quality care if there are not enough of them."

She added that as the average age of mothers increased, as well as climbing levels of obesity, so too did the complexity of births.

She called on the government to maintain the current level of student midwife numbers in training, and also to ensure that there is funding for new midwives to be employed in the NHS.

She continued: "Public funds spent training these midwives should be put to good use by ensuring the midwives are being employed for enough hours to maximise their impact on the care of mothers and their babies. Too often midwives are only offered part-time contracts, not the full-time ones that are needed."

(CD)

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"The 2014 birth rate figures for England and Wales show a slight fall in the overall birth rate, but a rise in the number of births to women aged 30 or older, according to figures published by the Off