1,120 new babies in East Cambridgeshire in 2011

In October, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released its annual statistics on births in England and Wales.

1,120 live births to East Cambridgeshire mums

Last year, there were 1,120 live births to women living in East Cambridgeshire. Congratulations if you were one of these mums! 

Across the whole of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, there were over 10,600 live births. Almost half of these babies were born to women living in the north east of the county (Huntingdonshire and Peterborough).

Rapid increase in number of babies in Cambridgeshire

Over the past five years, the number of babies born to mums living in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough has risen by 14.8 per cent - higher than the national average increase of 8.1 per cent.

Across Cambridgeshire, the biggest increase has been in East Cambridgeshire - a large increase of 22.3 per cent.

Across England and Wales, there have been a number of continuing trends

• The average age of women giving birth continued to rise. In 2011, the average age was 29.7 - the highest since records began in 1938;
• The percentage of births occurring outside of marriage reached a new record high (47.2 per cent). This has increased rapidly since the 1980s;
• At 25.5 per cent, the percentage of babies born to non-UK born women also broke a new record, with a strong increase since the late-1990s.

Defying trends, the fertility rate (the average number of children per women) fell in 2011 to 1.93, from 2.00 in 2010. This was the lowest rate since 2007 but remained higher than most of the 70s, 80s, 90s and early 2000s.

More information can be found on the ONS website

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