The introduction of coronavirus lockdown restrictions in March 2020 did not lead to a baby boom, new figures suggest.
Fertility rates in England and Wales for December 2020 and January 2021 showed “relatively steep decreases” compared with the equivalent month one year earlier, down by 8.1% and 10.2% respectively, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Live births in these months would have mostly been conceived in the weeks following the start of the lockdown.
There was a year-on-year increase in the fertility rate for March 2021 of 1.7%, however, which “mostly translate to live births conceived when lockdown restrictions were beginning to be eased in summer 2020”, the ONS said.
Live births in England and Wales in 2020 fell for the fifth successive year in a row, the ONS said.
A total of 615,557 live births took place during the year, according to provisional figures, down 4% on 2019.
It is also down 16% from the recent peak of 730,883 births in 2012.
