LONDON, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- The number of babies born in England and Wales has fallen to its lowest number since 2006, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Thursday.
There were 679,106 births in 2017, the latest year for which full figures are available. The figures show boys made up 51.3 percent of the births, and 48.7 percent were girls.
The majority of babies -- 42 percent, were first born, 35 percent were second births and 23 percent were third or subsequent births in 2017.
ONS also revealed that 47,257 or seven percent of babies born in 2017 were classed as low weight at under 2,500 grams.
ONS said the average age of first-time moms was 28.8 years in 2017, unchanged since 2016; the average age of all fathers increased to 33.4 years in 2017, up from 33.3 years in 2016.
Just 2.1 percent of women give birth at home in 2017, unchanged from 2016 but a slight decline compared with 2012 to 2015 when 2.3 percent of women gave birth at home, it said.
Kanak Ghosh from ONS said: "The stillbirth rate for England and Wales has decreased by nearly a fifth over the last decade and in 2017, it was at a record low with 4.2 stillbirths per 1,000 total births. Older mothers aged 40 years and over continue to have the highest stillbirth rate followed by mothers aged under 20 years."
