Britain is set to hit a 'worrying milestone' within weeks as fertility rates plummet to a record low

Deaths will outnumber births every year in England and Wales from 2026 on, official projections have revealed.

Statistics have revealed that 450,000 more deaths than births are projected over the next decade.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revised estimates for the growth of the UK population in the coming decades earlier this year due to a decline in birthrates and fall in net migration.

New Center for Social Justice (CSJ) analysis marked July 1 as "death day" - the day the threshold for deaths outpacing births is crossed.

Edward Davies, research director for the think tank, said it was a "worrying milestone".

This is considered below the 2.1 children per woman needed to maintain a population without any immigration.

The CSJ warned birthrate "collapse" could cause government spending to soar.

Mr Davies warned that if Labour was to maintain the current ratio of workers to pensioners, the state pension age would need to rise to 75.

He said: "For as long as family continues to be the F-word of politics, the government will not be in control of the seismic demographic shifts which are wreaking havoc on the public finances and depriving millions of their dreams of parenthood."

"We need to prioritise marriage, help young men step up to the plate, and make it easier for couples who want children to afford to have them," he added.

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In 2020, the Covid pandemic caused deaths to rise above births, and they again outpaced births in 2023.

Record levels of immigration have hid declining birth rates and caused Britain's population to grow rapidly.

The proportion of babies born in the UK to foreign parents has shot up.

Forty per cent of babies last year had at least one parent born outside Britain.

Regions such as the West Midlands and London have seen the number of births increase.

But the North East and South West have seen an overall decline in births.

The population is expected to grow by about 1.7 million by 2034 - but this would be fuelled by immigration.

It would then decrease in the mid 2050s - much sooner than previous estimates of 2096.