There were 21,591 babies born in east London in 2018, and now the Office for National Statistics has revealed the number of births in each borough.

Newham's midwives were the busiest in not just east London but the entire capital last year, with 5,678 babies born in the calendar year - the next closest borough across the capital was Croydon, where 5,495 births were registered.

Redbridge saw the second most babies born in east London in 2018 with 4,539 births.

Then came Tower Hamlets with 4,367, Barking and Dagenham on 3,700 and finally Havering with 3,307.

Discounting the City of London, the lowest number of births registered in any London borough was in Kensington and Chelsea, where just 1,637 births were recorded in 12 months.

Nationally, there were 657,076 live births in 2018, a decrease of 3.2pc since 2017 and 9.9pc down since 2012.

It is the third year in a row that the number of live births has dropped and levels have not been this low since 2005.

The figures showed the stillbirth rate reached a record low for the second year running in 2018, with 4.1 stillbirths per 1,000 total births.

There were 2,689 stillbirths in England and Wales in 2018 - a fall of 6.4pc from the previous year.

Kathryn Littleboy, of the ONS's Vital Statistics Output Branch, said: "Our analysis of births in England and Wales in 2018 paints a picture of decreases and some record lows. The birth rate was the lowest ever recorded, when births are measured as a proportion of the total population.

"The total fertility rate stood at 1.7 children per woman, lower than all years except 1977 and 1999 to 2002.

"The proportion of live births to non-UK mothers fell for the first time since 1990. The stillbirth rate reached the lowest level recorded for the second year running.

"There were 657,076 live births last year, the fewest since 2005 and a drop of almost 10pc since 2012."

Clea Harmer, chief executive at stillbirth and neonatal death charity Sands, said: "This continuing downward trend in the deaths of babies before birth is very welcome but, until the figures can be seen alongside mortality rates for babies who die shortly after birth, it is too early to comment on whether we are on track to meet the English government's ambition to halve deaths by 2025."