Armitage B, Babb P
Popul Trends. 1996 Summer(84):7-13.
Fertility in the United Kingdom has now been at a level below that needed for natural replacement of the population (TPFR of 2.1) for more than twenty years. Whilst fertility in many parts of the world (eg most of Europe, and much of the developing world) has declined sharply in recent years, the overall rate in the United Kingdom has been fairly stable (TPFR about 1.8) since 1980. Women are having their children at older ages: fertility rates have been falling for women aged under 30 and rising for women above that age. The mean age at motherhood rose by 1.4 years to 28.4 in England and Wales between 1984 and 1994. The proportion of women in England and Wales who were still childless at age 45 rose to 13 per cent in 1994, and will increase further in the future. One third of births are now to women who are not married, but the recent rapid increase in this proportion may not continue. The percentage of all births which are both outside marriage and registered solely by the mother has been fairly stable (around 7 per cent) for several years. Fertility rates are higher in Northern Ireland than in the rest of the United Kingdom, and lowest in Scotland and in the North of England. Northern Ireland has the lowest proportion of births outside marriage.
英国的生育率处于低于人口自然更替所需水平（总生育率为2.1）的状态已超过二十年。尽管近年来世界许多地区（如欧洲大部分地区以及许多发展中世界）的生育率急剧下降，但自1980年以来，英国的总体生育率一直相当稳定（总生育率约为1.8）。女性生育孩子的年龄越来越大：30岁以下女性的生育率一直在下降，而30岁以上女性的生育率则在上升。1984年至1994年间，英格兰和威尔士的平均生育年龄上升了1.4岁，达到28.4岁。1994年，英格兰和威尔士45岁时仍未生育的女性比例上升至13%，且未来还会进一步增加。现在三分之一的婴儿由未婚女性生育，但这一比例近期的快速增长可能不会持续。非婚生育且仅由母亲登记的所有出生婴儿的比例在几年内一直相当稳定（约7%）。北爱尔兰的生育率高于英国其他地区，而苏格兰和英格兰北部的生育率最低。北爱尔兰非婚生育的比例最低。
