Standing view · population · Maldon
falling, held with established confidence, formed on 31 August 2026 from movements in 2025.
The general fertility rate in Maldon was 47.4 live births per thousand women of childbearing age in 2024 and 52.3 in 2025, both recorded as falls against the underlying population. Live births were 508 in 2024 and 576 in 2025, the total fertility rate 1.38 and 1.52, and the crude birth rate 8.2 per thousand residents in 2025, against a population of 70,196. The fertility rate is the only measure recording a direction here, and it falls in both readings.
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 Maldon. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| General fertility rate (GFR) | 2024 | falling |
| General fertility rate (GFR) | 2025 | 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Live births | 2024 | — |
| Total fertility rate (TFR) | 2024 | — |
| Population | 2025 | — |
| Crude birth rate | 2025 | — |
| Live births | 2025 | — |
| Total fertility rate (TFR) | 2025 | — |