THE pandemic could cause historically low levels of childbearing, a new study has found.

A new project, led by researchers at the University of Southampton has found that the impact of Covid-19 could mean a further fall in fertility rates to historically low levels.

As part of the Economic and Social Research Council’s Fertility Trends project and the ESRC Centre for Population Change, the research team, led by Professor Ann Berrington at the University of Southampton, has found that fertility rates across the UK have been declining for all age groups.

Although there is said to be little information on pregnancy birth rates during 2020 at this point, using previous findings on how economic shocks affect society, the study has created a set of "what if" scenarios to test how the pandemic might affect the number of babies born in the UK.

Having considered four scenarios of how the Covid-19 pandemic might affect individuals at different ages, three out of four of the scenarios showed an expected fall in the number of births over the next three years.

Professor Berrington said: “Our examination of some of the potential mechanisms through which the pandemic could affect childbearing suggests that recent declines in fertility rates could well be accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The projected Total Fertility Rates from our four scenarios provided a range of possibilities, however three out of four of the scenarios suggested fewer births.”

The researchers put forward a number of mechanisms through which the pandemic could affect childbearing and for people under the age of thirty, most of the mechanisms showed a "depressing effect" on childbearing.

Some possible reasons given for this included a lack of socialising because of lockdowns, and more economic uncertainties caused by the fallout of the pandemic.

Professor Berrington added that the differences across all four scenarios, and the possible effects of the pandemic could have significant implications for service provision.

She added: "Our examination of the potential mechanisms through which the pandemic could affect childbearing suggests that recent declines in fertility rates could well be accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.”