Bristol's birth rate has plummeted by 36% in a decade, reflecting a national trend as the UK faces its lowest fertility rate on record.

Bristol

Bristol has seen its birth rate drop faster than any other city in England and Wales, reflecting a national trend of declining fertility rates in the UK. Rising living costs, including housing and childcare, are cited as major factors causing people to delay or forgo having children, leading to school closures and concerns about the country's future population.

Experts state that the UK's fertility rate is now well below the replacement level, making immigration essential to sustain the population. Political parties are divided on the issue, with the government introducing major immigration reforms and economic measures to support parents, though evidence suggests these steps may not be sufficient to restore birth rates to replacement levels.

UK faces falling birth rate as immigration debate intensifies

It's being described as a baby desert, a place where parenthood is a luxury only the few can afford, despite the booming local economy. Rising house prices and spiralling childcare rates mean many people in Bristol are having children later, or not at all. Hayley Watkins works as a counsellor, supporting people who are child-free, after her own experiences of feeling pressured to have children. If the environment is not amenable to supporting our young, we won't have them. We need to be in a sort of relaxed state, in a sense that there is plenty, just looking out at the world, that there is a general sense of plenty, in order for us to go, OK, we'll make another one of us. And I think so many people aren't getting that right now. As the cost of living continues to rise, more people are questioning whether or not they can afford to have children. The birth rate here in Bristol has dropped faster than any other city in England and Wales. The knock-on effect, schools like this having to merge with another nearby, and then close their gates indefinitely. Bristol's decline reflects a wider national trend. The UK's fertility rate has fallen to its lowest level since records began, and well below the replacement rate to sustain its population. One of the world's leading population experts told a parliamentary committee in March that the replacement rate is unlikely to ever return, and the UK must now rely on immigration to avoid a demographic disaster. The far-right political party Reform UK, which is leading in many polls, sees the declining birth rate as fertile ground for votes. It's calling for more British-born children whilst pushing for net zero migration. Prime Minister Keir Starmer labelled Reform's policies racist shortly before announcing the UK's biggest immigration reforms in 50 years. If you reduce immigration, you won't have, with the falling fertility rate, enough of a tax base to afford the things we want. And it's going to take likely a long time and be very difficult to up that fertility rate. I don't think across the political spectrum we're having an honest conversation about that right now. The Labour government has acknowledged the challenge, announcing policies aimed at reducing the cost of parenting. But while economic support can keep fertility rates higher, there is no evidence in Europe that it can raise birth rates back to replacement level. Rhys Durham, Al Jazeera, Bristol.

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New York

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Moscow

Ukraine Invasion

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Damascus

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Taipei City

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Breakdown