THE birth rate has dropped to its lowest in close to 50 years.

Just 591,072 new arrivals — the smallest number since 1977 — were recorded last year in England and Wales, records reveal.

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The figures indicate that Millennials — those born up to the mid-1990s — are not having children owing to financial problems or having not found the right partner.

The stats also show just 55 per cent of the babies were white British.

Prof Melinda Mills, of the University of Oxford, said reasons for the low birth rate included “finding a partner, housing, economic uncertainty, remaining longer in education and particularly women entering and staying in the labour force”.

She added: “Some individuals also actively make the choice to remain child-free. However, there is evidence that postponing having children to later ages when the partners are less able to conceive results in increases in involuntarily childlessness as well.”

The fertility rate — the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime — fell to 1.44 in England and Wales.

That was the lowest figure since 1938, the Office of National Statistics reports.

The rate has to be at 2.1 children just for countries to maintain populations.

The average age of mothers was stable at 30.9 years but for dads it rose from 33.7 to 33.8.

The steepest drops in the fertility rate were in Wales and North West England.

London and the North East saw the smallest decreases.

Greg Ceely of the ONS said: “The decline in fertility rates has been the most dramatic in the 20-24 and 25-29 age groups.”