Key points from article :
Last year more deaths than births were registered in the UK for the first time since 1976.
Just over 683,000 births were registered compared with nearly 690,000 deaths.
This was only the second time deaths have outnumbered births since the late 1890s.
Part of the rising deaths in UK is due to the increasing population and getting older.
Last year's 13% rise is attributed to the coronavirus pandemic.
It was the largest jump in a single year seen since World War Two.
In 2012, the total fertility rate was 1.92 - close to the level where a population replaces itself.
In just eight years that has fallen below 1.6, much closer now to societies considered to be ageing.
Births have been falling steadily in every nation of the UK since at least 2015.
The Office for National Statistics says this is because we are having children later in life and fewer of them.
Biggest reason was the widespread availability of contraception and the legalisation of abortion in the UK.
