THE fertility rate fell in York last year despite the first rise nationally in about a decade, figures show.

Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that there were 1,619 live births registered in York last year, which was 67 fewer than in 2020 which saw 1,686 registered live births.

This has given York a total fertility rate of 1.18 children per woman last year, which was down from 1.2 in 2020, and 1.21 in 2019.

The total fertility rate is the average number of children a woman would have if she experienced that year's fertility rate during her childbearing years.

Anita Dobson, Nurse Consultant in Public Health said: "The trend in fertility rate in York shows that there has been a fall in rates and numbers each year since 2012.

"While there is an overall downward trend in births nationally, the rate in York has been consistently lower than the regional and national averages throughout this period.

"However, the fall of 67 births is not the largest fall York has seen over the last nine years, for example there was a fall of 110 births from 2018 to 2019."

Across England and Wales, there were 624,828 live births registered in 2021, up from 1.8 per cent in 2020 but below the number registered in 2019.

However the national fertility rate has increased year-on-year from 1.58 to 1.61, the first time it has risen since 2012, but has remained below the rate of 1.65 before the pandemic. 

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) say that this latest rise may have been caused by many women delaying trying to conceive during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

The national ONS figures show that fertility rates among younger women have fallen but there has been a rise in older age groups.

The largest decrease, at a fall of 16 per cent, was among younger women under 20 years old, while women aged 35 to 39 saw fertility rates increase by five per cent.

A spokesperson for BPAS added that the "ever- increasing cost of raising a child, high cost of childcare and career development" are among the variety of reasons why women choose to postpone having a child.

Ms Dobson added: "The choice to have a child is individual and can be complex with no one stand out reason and the decision can be influenced by lots of factors such as economics, housing, age and lifestyle.

"York has a high student population and is in line with other university towns and cities which are also seeing a fall in birth rates such as Sheffield, Nottingham and Manchester.

"York has good access to contraception services through Primary Care and York Sexual Health service which help people to plan their pregnancies and supports individual choice in family planning."