THE fertility rate in Bradford rose slightly last year, new figures show - bucking the national trend. 

Office for National Statistics data shows there was an average of 1.82 live births per woman in Bradford in 2023 - up slightly from 1.8 the year before.

Meanwhile, the fertility rate for England and Wales fell to the lowest level since records began in 1938, at 1.44.

The fertility rate is defined as the average number of live children a group of women would have if they experienced the age-specific fertility rates throughout their childbearing life.

Commenting on the national figures, Professor Melinda Mills, professor of demography and population health at the University of Oxford, said: "People are actively postponing or forgoing children due to issues related to difficulties in finding a partner, housing, economic uncertainty, remaining longer in education and particularly women entering and staying in the labour force."

She added: "Some individuals also actively make the choice to remain childfree.

"However, there is evidence that postponing having children to later ages when the partners are less able to conceive results in increases in involuntarily childlessness as well."

Dr Bassel Al Wattar, associate professor of reproductive medicine at Anglia Ruskin University, described the national downward trend in birth rate as "worrying yet persistent".