By 2020, births in the UK have reached a new low level, with more deaths than birth for the first time since 1976.
Official data reveals that 683,180 babies were born in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland by 2020, the equivalent of one every 46.2 seconds. There were, however, 689,708 deaths.
This is the first year since 1976 that death has overtaken births, and it has not happened in another year since records began in the 1930's.
Several births dropped sharply last winter while lowering the limits last summer led to a rise this March.(ads2)
Last year's outbreak of coronavirus has led to a dramatic increase in deaths, but birth rates have been declining over the past decade.
The Center for Population Change, with the support of the Economic and Social Research Council, predicts a "decline in the next three years, which has resulted in fewer births per year compared to the pre-epidemic epidemic."
Pre-Covid, parents had already fallen to “historically low levels,” lower than during the Great Depression of the 1930's.
The birth of 2.1 children per woman is required to maintain human stability.
In England and Wales, it had already dropped to 1.6 last year, but is now expected to drop to 1.45 in 2023.
All the reasons for this are depressing, indicating hardship, insecurity and anxiety.
It shows a world where child rearing is an unnecessary burden for women, there are too many barriers to leadership while doing so.
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