Maternity units forced to turn away expectant mothers because of migrant baby boom that is costing NHS £350m

Matthew Heyes/ 01/30/2008/ 10.30PM/ Population

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=511171&in_page_id=1774

This is an interesting article that examines the effect that immigrants are having on the National Health Service. It is important to consider the political stance of the newspaper on arguing their opinions on the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United Kingdom as well as budgeting priorities. According to the article expecting mothers are being turned away from hospitals due to the rising demand from foreign-born mothers. An investigation showed that the government has not estimated the cost of providing these services.

Once you get away from the political debate there are some interesting figures on immigration into the United Kingdom and comparisons between citizens’ fertility rates and those of immigrants. The number of babies born to British mothers has fallen by around 44,000 each year since 1997 but the number born to foreigners is up by 64,000 a year, or one in four babies. This has raised the overall birth rate to its highest level for 26 years and almost 40,000 more babies were born in 2006 than officials at the Health Department expected.

These figures seem extraordinary and makes one consider the implications on the population of the United Kingdom. Women are continuing to have children at an older age than previous generations as well as an increasing number of immigrants having children leads to a dramatic rise in the birth rate. The infant death rate remained at the lowest level ever, at five deaths per 1,000, the same as for 2005, causing an increased rise in the population.