In 2020, there were 817,515 arrests of women aged 15 to 44, a decrease for the sixth consecutive year, although lower than in previous years at 0.4%, according to the National Statistics Office. James Tucker, head of health and life events analysis at ONS, said: “While it may be expected that this would have led to a drop in births in 2021, provisional birth data show that births in 2021 have indeed increased, but this varies. during the year. “ He said this was because the first half of 2021 had a decrease in births, which would have been conceived in 2020 when arrests decreased, but the second half of 2021 had an increase in births, which is related to arrests in late 2020 and early 2021. This may indicate that people delayed having a baby until after the initial shock of the pandemic. Arrest data are not yet available for 2021, but initial data may indicate an increase in arrests in the second year of the pandemic. The data also show that the arrest rate is increasing for women aged 30 to 34, who had a record high of 248,528 arrests in 2020 – 123.9 per 1,000 women. In 2020, all age groups 30 and older showed an increase in conception rates, for the first time in several years. In contrast, adolescent conception rates continued to decline from 2007, falling to 13.1 conceptions per 1,000 women, from 15.8 in 2019. All age groups under 30 had decreases in conception rates, with greater decline among those under 20 years of age. probably due to a government program aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy that began in 2018. For the first time in years, London did not have the highest arrest rate. A 2.7% drop meant delivering first place in the Northwest, followed by the West Midlands, pushing the capital, where the cost of living is highest in the UK, to third. Since 2009, the arrest rate in London has dropped by 15%. The percentage of arrests that led to legal abortions increased for the sixth consecutive year, reaching a quarter. Demographic researchers at the University of Southampton have predicted that the pandemic could reduce fertility rates for younger children without children due to a lack of socialization and financial uncertainty. They suggested that older, more stable parents could increase their chances of having extra children. The impact of the pandemic on birth rates is difficult to predict because, although baby boomers are common after tragic events, such as the post-World War II baby boomer generation, periods of economic crisis, such as after Recession of 2008, is usually associated with baby failures due to tighter household finances and job losses.
