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New figures from the Office for National Statistics show a 2.4% increase in live births in the last year alone More midwives are urgently required as the birth rate reached a 40-year high, the Royal College of Midwives has said. New figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show a 2.4% increase in live births in the last year alone. There were 723,165 live births in England and Wales in 2010, compared with 706,248 in 2009, making it the highest figure in almost 40 years. In 1972, the birth rate was 725,440. The number of children women are having also increased between 2009 and 2010, with the total fertility rate (TFR) rising to 2.0 children per woman in 2010 from 1.96 in 2009. Nearly 4,700 more midwives are now needed to handle the increase, according to the Royal College of Midwives (RCM). Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the RCM, said: “The government has committed to protecting student midwife training places, but this is only for one year and does little good if there are not jobs for those midwives to go to. “Without central direction it is simply too easy for hard-pressed NHS organisations to save money by cutting midwifery jobs. This is a false economy and government backing is needed to ensure this does not happen. “All the reports on maternity services show that there is a direct link with midwifery staffing levels and the safety of services. Late last year I said I have real fears that the safety of maternity services was being compromised by the shortfall in midwife numbers; these new figures add even greater weight to that fear. “Midwives are working harder and doing more with less and maternity services and the quality of care is suffering. I appeal to David Cameron to accept what the figures are telling him and to honour his promise. Failing to do so is a disservice to midwives and, more importantly, a disservice to the women and babies those midwives care for.” The ONS figures also show a decrease in stillbirths between 2009 and 2010. In 2010, there were 5.1 per thousand live and stillbirths, down from 5.2 in 2009. There was, however, an increase in all deaths in England and Wales between 2009 and 2010, rising from 491,348 in 2009 to 493,243 in 2010, an increase of 0.4%. There were 3,140 infant deaths under one year of age registered in England and Wales, giving an infant mortality rate of 4.3 deaths per thousand live births, the lowest rate ever recorded. Midwifery Health NHS Childbirth Health & wellbeing Social trends guardian.co.uk