Katie Williams, Data Reporter

One in nine births in Stroud last year were to mothers born outside the UK, new figures reveal.

Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that non-UK-born women living in Stroud gave birth to 111 children in 2019 – 11.1% of all deliveries.

That was up from 2018, when 10.5% of births were to mothers born abroad.

Across England and Wales, the proportion of births to foreign-born mothers rose from 28.2% to 28.7% last year – the highest rate since records began in 1969 and continuing a general long-term increase.

The ONS said a rise in the proportion of births to non-UK-born mothers "coincides with increases in immigration since the 1990s, where more international migrants have entered the UK for work and study reasons".

It added that migration has contributed to the number of births remaining higher than the number of deaths, despite fertility rates nearing their lowest level since records began.

A June report by Georgina Sturge, migration and justice statistics specialist at the House of Commons Library, said the UK’s migrant population is concentrated in London – more than a third of people living in the UK who were born abroad live in the capital.

In Brent, London, 75.2% of newborns had mothers born overseas, while in Staffordshire Moorlands in the West Midlands, the figure stood at just 3.4%.

Data shows that in Stroud, the most common region of origin for non-UK-born mothers giving birth was the EU – 60 births were to mothers born there.

A further seven were from European countries outside of the EU, 25 from the Middle East and Asia, 11 from Africa and eight from elsewhere.

Overall, 1,003 Stroud women gave birth last year, a decrease from 2018.

The figures include long-time residents who moved here when they were younger, as well as those who moved to the UK more recently, the ONS said.

Across England and Wales, Poland remained the most common country of birth for mothers born outside the UK, while Pakistan was the most popular country of birth among non-UK-born fathers.

There were around 640,000 births in the two countries last year, although this includes a small number of mothers whose usual residence was elsewhere.

This was down from 657,000 the year before.