Standing view · population · South Staffordshire
falling, held with strong confidence, formed on 5 October 2026 from movements in 2025.
General fertility rate in South Staffordshire has been falling, and the view is held strongly. The general fertility rate (GFR) was 47.2 in 2023 and 48.9 in 2024, the crude birth rate 7.2 in 2023, and live births 811 in 2023 and 858 in 2024, each of those recorded as falling against the usual pattern for its year. The total fertility rate (TFR) stood at 1.41 in 2023, and population at 114,174 in 2024 and 114,811 in 2025. Five falling readings across two consecutive years.
A view is formed only where the evidence names a figure you can check. Each movement listed as a reason had to be large enough to matter and distinctive in at least one way — unusual against this area's own history, unusual against comparable areas, or sustained over several periods. A movement shared with peers counts for less, because it says something about the country rather than about South Staffordshire. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Crude birth rate | 2023 | falling |
| General fertility rate (GFR) | 2023 | falling |
| Live births | 2023 | falling |
| General fertility rate (GFR) | 2024 | falling |
| Live births | 2024 | falling |
These figures carry no defensible direction of their own: a rising house price is good news to an owner and bad news to someone trying to buy, so we do not score one as an improvement. They are shown because they are part of the picture, and they did not decide the view above.
| Measure | Period | Series |
|---|---|---|
| Total fertility rate (TFR) | 2023 | — |
| Population | 2024 | — |
| Population | 2025 | — |