Women in Oxford are giving birth to fewer children than a decade ago, new figures reveal.

Office for National Statistics data shows the fertility rate in Oxford was 1.58 births per woman last year.

The total fertility rate is the average number of live children a mother would have while she is of childbearing age, if she experienced the typical fertility rate every year.

In 2009, Oxford women were giving birth to 1.55 children each on average.

ALSO READ: Where in Oxfordshire has the most coronavirus cases?

Across England and Wales, the overall fertility rate was 1.65 children per women in 2019 – the lowest since 2002.

The standardised mean age of a mother at childbirth in 2019 was also 30.7, a figure which has been gradually rising since 1973 when it was 26.4 years.

The ONS suggested possible reasons for the decrease in total fertility rates could be better access to contraception; a fall in mortality rates of children aged under five, resulting in women having fewer babies; and lower levels of fertility or difficulties conceiving because people are delaying having children until later in life.