Annual UK and constituent country figures for births, deaths, marriages, divorces, civil partnerships and civil partnership dissolutions.

In 2021 the live birth rate of the United Kingdom fell to 10.4 births per 1,000 population, the lowest it had been during this time period. The UK's birth rate has been declining steadily since 2010 when the birth rate was 12.9 births per 1,000 population. After 1938, the year with the highest birth rate in the UK was 1947, when the crude birth rate was 21.2 births per 1,000 population. Under two children per mother in 2021 The most recent crude live birth rate for this statistic is based on the 694,685 births, that occurred in 2021 as well as the mid-year population estimate of 67 million for the United Kingdom. It has a close relation to the fertility rate which estimates the average number of children women are expected to have in their lifetime, which was 1.53 in this reporting year. Among the constituent countries of the UK, Northern Ireland had the highest birth rate at 11.6, followed by England at 10.5, Wales at 9.3, and Scotland at 8.7. International comparisons The UK is not alone in seeing its birth and fertility rates decline dramatically in recent decades. Across the globe, fertility rates have fallen noticeably since the 1960s, with the fertility rate for Asia, Europe, and the Americas being below two in 2021. As of this year, the global fertility rate was 2.31, and was by far the highest in Africa, which had a fertility rate of 4.12, although this too has fallen from a high of 6.72 in the late 1960s. A reduction in infant mortality, as well as better access to contraception, are factors that have typically influenced declining fertility rates recently.

Live births by usual residence of mother, and General Fertility Rates (GFR), and Deaths and Standardised Mortality Ratio (SMR) by ward and local authority. The births and deaths data comes from ONS Vital Statistics Table 4. Small area data is only available directly from ONS under licence. The general fertility rate (GFR) is the number of live births per 1,000 women aged 15-44. SMR measures whether the population of an area has a higher or lower number of deaths than expected based on the age profile of the population (more deaths are expected in older populations). The SMR is defined as follows: SMR = (Observed no. of deaths per year)/(Expected no. of deaths per year). Rates are provisional, they are based on the GLA 2011 based SHLAA ward projections (standard) released in January 2012. At national level, however, they are based on the mid-year population estimates. More information is on the ONS website.

Annual statistics on births and infant deaths based on babies born in a calendar year that died before their first birthday linked to their corresponding birth notification and their corresponding death registration.

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There were 9,891 deaths registered in England and Wales for the week ending September 12, 2025, compared with 10,392 in the previous week. During this time period, the two weeks with the highest number of weekly deaths were in April 2020, with the week ending April 17, 2020, having 22,351 deaths, and the following week 21,997 deaths, a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. Death and life expectancy As of 2022, the life expectancy for women in the UK was just over 82.5 years, and almost 78.6 years for men. Compared with 1765, when average life expectancy was under 39 years, this is a huge improvement in historical terms. Even in the more recent past, life expectancy was less than 47 years at the start of the 20th Century, and was under 70 as recently as the 1950s. Despite these significant developments in the long-term, improvements in life expectancy stalled between 2009/11 and 2015/17, and have even gone into decline since 2020. Between 2020 and 2022, for example, life expectancy at birth fell by 23 weeks for females, and 37 weeks for males. COVID-19 in the UK The first cases of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom were recorded on January 31, 2020, but it was not until a month later that cases began to rise exponentially. By March 5 of this year there were more than 100 cases, rising to 1,000 days later and passing 10,000 cumulative cases by March 26. At the height of the pandemic in late April and early May, there were around six thousand new cases being recorded daily. As of January 2023, there were more than 24.2 million confirmed cumulative cases of COVID-19 recorded in the United Kingdom, resulting in 202,156 deaths.

In 2021, the infant mortality rate in the United Kingdom was four deaths one year per 1,000 live births, one of the lowest infant mortality rate in this period. Infant mortality has fallen considerably since 1900, when there were 150 infant deaths per 1,000 live births.

United Kingdom UK: Death Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data was reported at 9.100 Ratio in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 9.200 Ratio for 2015. United Kingdom UK: Death Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 11.300 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2016, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 12.200 Ratio in 1963 and a record low of 8.700 Ratio in 2011. United Kingdom UK: Death Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Crude death rate indicates the number of deaths occurring during the year, per 1,000 population estimated at midyear. Subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate provides the rate of natural increase, which is equal to the rate of population change in the absence of migration.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average;

United Kingdom UK: Mortality Rate: Neonatal: per 1000 Live Births data was reported at 2.600 Ratio in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 2.700 Ratio for 2015. United Kingdom UK: Mortality Rate: Neonatal: per 1000 Live Births data is updated yearly, averaging 4.800 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2016, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 16.100 Ratio in 1960 and a record low of 2.600 Ratio in 2016. United Kingdom UK: Mortality Rate: Neonatal: per 1000 Live Births data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s UK – Table UK.World Bank: Health Statistics. Neonatal mortality rate is the number of neonates dying before reaching 28 days of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year.; ; Estimates Developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.; Weighted Average; Given that data on the incidence and prevalence of diseases are frequently unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. Moreover, they are among the indicators most frequently used to compare socioeconomic development across countries.

In the United Kingdom, the crude birth rate in 1800 was 37 live births per thousand people, meaning that 3.7 percent of the population had been born in that year. From 1800 until 1830, the crude birth rate jumped between 35 and 45, before plateauing between 35 and 37 until the 1880s. From 1880 until the Second World War, the crude birth rate dropped to just under fifteen births per one thousand people, with the only increase coming directly after World War One. After WWII, the United Kingdom experienced a baby boom, as many soldiers returned home and the economy recovered, however this boom stopped in the late 1960s and the crude birth rate went into decline again. From the late 1970s until today, the crude birth rate has remained between eleven and fourteen, and is expected to be 11.5 in 2020.

United Kingdom UK: Birth Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data was reported at 11.800 Ratio in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 11.900 Ratio for 2015. United Kingdom UK: Birth Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 12.900 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2016, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 18.800 Ratio in 1964 and a record low of 11.300 Ratio in 2002. United Kingdom UK: Birth Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Crude birth rate indicates the number of live births occurring during the year, per 1,000 population estimated at midyear. Subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate provides the rate of natural increase, which is equal to the rate of population change in the absence of migration.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average;

The child mortality rate in the United Kingdom, for children under the age of five, was 329 deaths per thousand births in 1800. This means that approximately one in every three children born in 1800 did not make it to their fifth birthday. Over the course of the next 220 years, this number has dropped drastically, particularly in the first half of the twentieth century, and the rate has dropped to its lowest point ever in 2020 where it is just four deaths per thousand births.

Population figures over a 25-year period, including births, deaths and migration by sex for regions and local authorities in England. 2022-based datasets are the latest projection.

Annual data on deaths registered by age, sex and selected underlying cause of death. Tables also provide both mortality rates and numbers of deaths over time.

Live births and stillbirths annual summary statistics, by sex, age of mother, whether within marriage or civil partnership, percentage of non-UK-born mothers, birth rates and births by month and mothers' area of usual residence.

Live births, stillbirths and linked infant deaths occurring annually in England and Wales, and associated risk factors.

For the week ending August 29, 2025, weekly deaths in England and Wales were 985 below the number expected, compared with 855 below what was expected in the previous week. In late 2022 and through early 2023, excess deaths were elevated for a number of weeks, with the excess deaths figure for the week ending January 13, 2023, the highest since February 2021. In the middle of April 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were almost 12,000 excess deaths a week recorded in England and Wales. It was not until two months later, in the week ending June 19, 2020, that the number of deaths began to be lower than the five-year average for the corresponding week. Most deaths since 1918 in 2020 In 2020, there were 689,629 deaths in the United Kingdom, making that year the deadliest since 1918, at the height of the Spanish influenza pandemic. As seen in the excess death figures, April 2020 was by far the worst month in terms of deaths during the pandemic. The weekly number of deaths for weeks 16 and 17 of that year were 22,351, and 21,997 respectively. Although the number of deaths fell to more usual levels for the rest of that year, a winter wave of the disease led to a high number of deaths in January 2021, with 18,676 deaths recorded in the fourth week of that year. For the whole of 2021, there were 667,479 deaths in the UK, 22,150 fewer than in 2020. Life expectancy in the UK goes into reverse In 2022, life expectancy at birth for women in the UK was 82.6 years, while for men it was 78.6 years. This was the lowest life expectancy in the country for ten years, and came after life expectancy improvements stalled throughout the 2010s, and then declined from 2020 onwards. There is also quite a significant regional difference in life expectancy in the UK. In the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea, for example, the life expectancy for men was 81.5 years, and 86.5 years for women. By contrast, in Blackpool, in North West England, male life expectancy was just 73.1 years, while for women, life expectancy was lowest in Glasgow, at 78 years.

This product includes births, deaths and survivals of UK enterprises. The active stock of businesses is also shown, so that birth and death rates can be calculated. Source agency: Office for National Statistics Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: Business Demography