01-07-2025
'Notable' rise in dads over 60 in England and Wales
Babies born to fathers over the age of 60 went up by 14.2% in 2024 compared to the year before, official figures show. Of 594,677 live births in England and Wales last year, 1,076 babies had dads in their 60s, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).Total births in England in 2024 rose slightly for the first time since 2021. Births where one or both parents were born outside of the UK also increased in both England and Wales.
The ONS said the increase in the number of babies born to older dads over 60 was "notable".Professor Allan Pacey, an expert in male fertility, said research shows men over the age of 40 are "about half as fertile" as men aged 25, making the rise even more number of babies born to parents in younger age brackets decreased last year, following the pattern of people waiting longer to start a the global trend for declining birth rates, the ONS reported a slight lift in the number of births in 2024, there were 567,708 live births in England, an increase of 0.7% compared to the year in Wales there were 26,832 live births - a decrease of 2% compared with Ceely, head of population health monitoring at the Office for National Statistics, said the overall number of births in England and Wales "reverses the recent trend" of declining births. "Despite this overall rise, the number of births to mothers under 30 fell, as people continue to put off having children until later in life. "The largest decrease is seen amongst those under 20 years old, which fell by almost 5%," he added.
The UK government has recently been looking at ways to reduce child poverty. Rapidly increasing costs of living are often cited as a barrier to having children. The government has also launched a review of parental leave after acknowledging that one in three dads do not take paternity leave because they cannot afford to.
The ONS figures also show an increase in the number of births to parents born outside of the UK in percentage of live births where either one or both parents were born outside of the UK was 40.4% in England (up from 38.2% in 2023), and 19.4% in Wales (up from 17.5% in 2023).India remains the most frequent country of birth for non-UK born mothers and fathers for the third year in a it comes to the timing of babies' births, Boxing Day (26 December) was the least likely birthday for babies born last year - for the twelfth year in a most common day for babies to be born was 23 February. The most popular day for arrivals was a Tuesday, with Saturdays and Sundays the least likely day for a baby's birth.
