Migrant baby boom means one in four infants now born in the UK has a mother who was born overseas and figure could reach one-in-three by 2021
Almost 188,000 of the 695,000 UK births in 2014 were to migrant women
Rate has doubled since Blair launched 1997 open-door immigration policy
Poland, Pakistan and India most common countries non-UK born mothers
By Hannah Parry For Mailonline
Published: 21:27 EST, 15 July 2015 | Updated: 09:27 EST, 16 July 2015
More than a quarter of all babies born in Britain last year have migrant mothers, official statistics have revealed.
Almost 188,000 of the 695,000 UK births in 2014 were to foreign-born women, with the figure likely to be as high as one in three births by 2021.
The figure has more than doubled since 1997 when Prime Minister Tony Blair set up New Labour's open-door immigration policy.
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The rates of births to non-British born mothers has more than doubled since 1997 when Tony Blair laucnhed his open-door immigration policy
In one London borough, more than three quarters of all births are to non-UK born women.
Poland, Pakistan and India were the three most-common countries of birth for non-UK born mothers in 2013. Pakistan also remains the most common country of birth for non-UK born fathers between 2008 and 2013.
The figures come just weeks after it emerged that net migration has soared by 50 per cent in a year to 318,000 - the highest level for a decade.
Britain's population is now at a record high of 64.8 million, having grown by 400,000 last year.
MOST COMMON COUNTRIES OF MIGRANTS GIVING BIRTH IN UK
Foreign mother's Percentage
country of origin of UK births
1 Poland 3
2 Pakistan 2.7
3 India 2
4 Bangladesh 1.1
5 Nigeria 1
6 Romania 0.7
7 Somalia 0.7
8 Germany 0.7
9 Lithuania 0.7
10 South Africa 0.5
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The figures will be another painful blow for David Cameron who had pledged to get tough by reducing net migration – people coming in to the UK minus those leaving – to ‘tens of thousands’ a year only to see it hit nearly 300,000 in May.
Soaring population numbers have sparked fears that a migrant baby boom could be putting pressure on Britain's already stretched services.
Alp Mehmet, of MigrationWatch, said: 'These official figures support what we have been saying for some time – Britain's population growth is being driven by immigration increases and babies born to non-UK mothers.
'Clearly the longer the population grows the greater the volume of people in the country.
'It doesn't take a genius to work out that it will put added pressure on a whole range of services including schools, housing and hospitals. It is unsustainable. This sort of growth rate is going to lead to a population of 70 million more quickly than we thought – in the main because of immigration.'
Under New Labour, immigrants arrived in Britain at the rate of almost one every minute during the ‘open door’ years. The influx caused the foreign population to swell by 3.6million between 1997 and 2010.
Almost 188,000 of the 695,000 UK births in 2014 were to migrant women - with the figure likely to be as high as one in three births by 2021
Newham in London remains the local authority with the highest percentage of births to non-UK born women 76.1 per cent in 2013. This compares to South Staffordshire which has the lowest at just 3.5 per cent.
Across the country it is estimated that the parents of some 80,000 pupils learned they had not got their first choice of school earlier this year, while the parents of around 20,000 pupils will have had all their preferences — up to six in some in cases — totally ignored.
The impact of Labour’s policy under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown was felt first by maternity services and then, inevitably, by schools.
Government statisticians warned what was about to happen — predicting that the 3.9 million pupils at state primaries in 2009 would grow to 4.6 million by 2018.
And the cracks are already beginning to show. In this year’s round of admissions, almost half the children in some areas were denied their preferred secondary school owing to pressure on places.
Meanwhile, projections by the Department for Education show that by 2023 the secondary school population will have grown by 17 per cent to 3.2 million, an increase equivalent to 500 new secondaries.
Ukip said the revelations were 'unsurprising' given the levels of migration and called for tougher immigration policies.
The new figures showed that the 695,233 live births in England and Wales last year were a slight decrease on the 698,512 born in 2013.
There were 2,500 more babies born to migrant mothers than in 2013.
While another report has found that the number of EU passport-holders born abroad - including Africa, Asia and South America - but now working in the UK had tripled in just a decade.
The University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory found that there were 78,000 non-Europeans with EU citizenship employed in Britain in 2004. But by the beginning of 2015, this had soared to 264,000.
The Migration Observatory said the increase in employment of those EU citizens who were born outside Europe reflected the surge of migrants to the UK from all over the EU.
It was also evidence of how a wave of EU immigration has taken advantage of Britain’s fast-recovering economy - which has produced an extra 2 million private sector jobs since 2010 - while the Eurozone remains mired in chaos.
The share of EU citizens living in the UK who were born outside Europe is 9 per cent.
COULD BENEFIT CHANGES BE TO BLAME FOR CHANGE IN BIRTH RATES?
Benefit cuts could have triggered a fall in younger women having children, it was claimed today.
The Office for National Statistics linked falling birth rates among the under-30s to reforms ordered by Iain Duncan Smith to limit welfare payments for larger families.
New analysis of births in 2014 also reveals lays bare the number of older mothers having children, as women delay starting a family.
There were 695.233 babies born last year, a fall of 0.5 per cent compared to 2013. The fertility rate also fell to 1.83 children per woman, down from 1.85.
The average age of mothers also rose by more two and a half months to 30.2 years, up from 30 on a year earlier.
There were 695.233 babies born last year, a fall of 0.5 per cent compared to 2013. The fertility rate also fell to 1.83 children per woman, down from 1.85
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There were 695.233 babies born last year, a fall of 0.5 per cent compared to 2013. The fertility rate also fell to 1.83 children per woman, down from 1.85
The ONS says it is too early to be certain that the falling birth rate is proof that years of rising levels have come to an end.
It said that the reasons will vary between age groups and the financial security of women when they choose to have children.
ONS said changes to the benefit system might be making women think twice about having children.
'Older women may feel less inclined to delay having children than younger women, while at any age childbearing choices may be affected by parents' current financial or housing position,' it said.
'Reforms by the coalition Government to simplify the welfare system, which have resulted in some significant changes to benefits, may have influenced decisions around childbearing.'
The benefit changes first announced in 2011 and 2012, include changes to housing benefit – dubbed the 'bedroom tax' which cut the amount people could claim for homes that with rooms they do not need, which came into force in April 2013.
New rules also mean children under 10 are expected to share a room, as are children under 16 of the same gender.
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