Closed petition Require collection of birth registration data on both parents’ previous children

Closed on 4 August 2022

Recently, various news outlets published articles with headlines like: 'Record numbers of women reach 30 child-free in England and Wales'. With no equivalent figures for men. Data should be collected at birth registrations on how many children both parents have previously had, not only mothers.

The ONS explains that:

'The methods used to create cohort fertility require use of data collected at birth registration from women on the number of previous children they have had. At present the birth registration system does not collect information on the number of previous children a man has had. Without this information it is not possible to produce estimates of the proportion of men who have not fathered a child.'

The Government should require this information to be collected in the birth registration process.