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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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Brits get busier in the bedroom, study shows
Source: Agencies |
August 29, 2009, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
BRITAIN'S population took its biggest jump in almost half a century last year, as a baby boom made new births rather than immigration the main contributor to growth for the first time in a decade.
Government figures show that 791,000 babies were born in the year to mid-2008 -- 33,000 more than the year before -- helping to bring Britain's population to 61.4 million.
The net population increase of 408,000 is the largest since 1962, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday.
Britain and other European nations face a looming crisis for health care and pensions as the population ages and the number of working-age people shrinks relative to the number of those who have retired.
But that situation is being somewhat offset by rising birth rates.
Britain's fertility rate of just under two children per mother is at its highest level since 1973, and the country's population is growing by more than 0.7 per cent a year -- three times the level in the 1980s.
A quarter of all births last year were to women born outside Britain, but statistician Roma Chappell said fertility rates among British-born women also are rising.
France's birth rate has been rising steadily for years and stood at 2.07 children per woman in 2008.
It is one of Europe's highest, due both to a tradition of large families among African immigrants and to decades of pro-family government policies such as generous maternity leave and public preschools and day care centers.
Germany's birth rate is lower but rising -- 1.37 children per woman in 2007, an increase from 1.33 the previous year.
While the number of babies in Europe is rising, so is the number of old people.
The British statistics show that 1.3 million people -- 2 percent of the country's population -- are now over 85.
Government figures show that 791,000 babies were born in the year to mid-2008 -- 33,000 more than the year before -- helping to bring Britain's population to 61.4 million.
The net population increase of 408,000 is the largest since 1962, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday.
Britain and other European nations face a looming crisis for health care and pensions as the population ages and the number of working-age people shrinks relative to the number of those who have retired.
But that situation is being somewhat offset by rising birth rates.
Britain's fertility rate of just under two children per mother is at its highest level since 1973, and the country's population is growing by more than 0.7 per cent a year -- three times the level in the 1980s.
A quarter of all births last year were to women born outside Britain, but statistician Roma Chappell said fertility rates among British-born women also are rising.
France's birth rate has been rising steadily for years and stood at 2.07 children per woman in 2008.
It is one of Europe's highest, due both to a tradition of large families among African immigrants and to decades of pro-family government policies such as generous maternity leave and public preschools and day care centers.
Germany's birth rate is lower but rising -- 1.37 children per woman in 2007, an increase from 1.33 the previous year.
While the number of babies in Europe is rising, so is the number of old people.
The British statistics show that 1.3 million people -- 2 percent of the country's population -- are now over 85.
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