Fewer children being born in West Berkshire

The number of children being born in West Berkshire is falling.

Projections say over the next 20 years, the proportion of children aged 0-5 years will fall to 5.4 per cent of the population.

Currently, children aged 0-5 represent 6.1 per cent of the population of West Berkshire, which is 9,897 children.

The wards of Thatcham West, Newbury Greenham, and Newbury Clay Hill have the highest rates of children aged 0-5 in West Berkshire; wards in the north, such as Downlands and Basildon, were among those with the lowest rates.

There were 1,435 live births in West Berkshire in 2023.

Over the past decade, the number of live births in West Berkshire have fallen from 1,744 to 1,435, and during this time the General Fertility Rate (GFR) - the number of births per 1,000 women of reproductive age in a given year - fell from 60.4 (per 1,000 females aged 15-44) to 50.5.

Across the wards of West Berkshire, the GFR ranged from 24.6 (per 1,000) in Chieveley and Cold Ash to 65.8 in Hungerford and Kintbury.