State of Maternity Services Report 2015

Wales
Live births
36,000
36000
35,000
35000
34,000
34000
33,000
33000
32,000
32000
31,000 31000
30,000 30000
Number of live
births
Source: StatsWales
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Just like Scotland, Wales saw a rise in the number
of births between 2002 and 2008; in Wales the
increase was 18 per cent, or about 5,500. Also like
Scotland, Wales then witnessed a small tailing off
Age profile of mothers
20
of the number, before falling noticeably in 2013.
And in the most recent year for which we have
figures, 2014, the number pretty much stopped
falling, down just 0.6 per cent on the previous year.
10%
rise in births in
Wales between
2001 and 2014
10
0
-10
-20
% change in
number of live
births, 2007–2012
-30
under 16
16–19 20–24 25–29 30–34 35–39 40 and over
Source: StatsWales
Like elsewhere in the UK, Wales has seen a fall in
the number of births to women and girls aged
under 20 and a rise in the number of babies born
to older women. In Wales however both changes
have been less pronounced than elsewhere.
Between 2007 and 2012, the fall in births to those
aged under 16 was 27 per cent, and for those aged
16 to 19 the figure was 26 per cent.
During the same period, births to women in their
early thirties was up, but by just 11 per cent, but
births to women in their late thirties actually fell,
by 10 per cent. For the oldest age group, women
aged 40 or above, the number was up, but by
15 per cent.
Overall the changes in Wales – in midwife and birth
numbers – were less pronounced than elsewhere in
the UK.
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