A THIRD of babies had a non-UK born mother last year - as women wait longer to have children and number with dads aged over 60 spikes 14%
Official data reveal that non-UK-born women accounted for 33.9 per cent of live births in England and Wales in 2024 - up from 31.8 per cent the previous year and the highest on record. In 2009 the level was below a quarter.
Two-fifths of babies last year had at least one parent who was born in another country.
However, the proportion varied widely between 68 per cent in London, 44.4 per cent in Greater Manchester, 41.2 per cent in the West Midlands and just 22.6 per cent in the North East.
The ONS said there were 594,677 live births in England and Wales in 2024, which represented the first overall increase since 2021.
The rise was driven by the West Midlands, where births were up 3.38 per cent and London where they were up 1.8 per cent.
In contrast, numbers were stalled in the South East and down in the North East, South West, East Midlands, and Wales - which saw a 2 per cent dip.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) breakdown also underlined the tendency for women to wait longer before having children.
The number of mothers aged under 20 dropped 4.6 percentage points year-on-year, and was down 2.35 percentage points for 20-24 year-olds.
Meanwhile, there were increases in all the maternal age categories over 30. Although the maternity rate decreased overall, it increased for those aged over 45.
There was an astonishing 14.2 per cent annual increase in births to fathers aged over 60.
Official figures have been showing that population change is being almost completely driven by immigration, which has been hitting record levels while deaths and births are largely in balance. Migrant mothers have tended to have higher birth rates, which have been falling among the wider population.
The ONS found India was the most common country of birth for non-UK-born mothers and fathers for the third year in a row.
India-born mothers accounted for 4.4 per cent of all live births, followed by Pakistan (3.6 per cent) and Nigeria (2.5 per cent).
Iraq has entered the top 10 for the first time, with 0.6 per cent.
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