If you’ve found yourself feeling particularly amorous this May Bank Holiday, a study suggests you’re not alone.
Analysis of official birth statistics suggests more babies are born nine months after the May bank holiday than at any other time of year.
The most recent birth figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that 1,880 little ones were born on February 23 2024 – exactly 270 days after the Spring Bank Holiday the previous year on May 29.
A total of 1,880 births were recorded that day, far above the annual daily average of 1,625.
Seven of the top 10 birthdays for the year are in September, pointing to a huge baby boom in the build-up to and over the Christmas period.
Data analysis even suggests that school holidays are a driver for couples to try for a baby.
The other two top 10 dates for births are in early to mid May, suggesting the baby was conceived at the start of the summer break the year before.
Experts believe the pattern is no happy accident – but points to a deliberate trend of couples having more sex during the holidays, when they are able to spend more time together.
Research suggests couples are more likely to conceive around the time of bank holidays and other time off (file photo of a couple in Battersea Park, London in 2023)
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NHS experts consider the typical gestation period to be anywhere from 37 to 40 weeks (259 to 280 days).
The window of September 16, 18 and 19 – three of the top 10 dates for births – suggests the babies were conceived around the time of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
There are outliers to the data, however.
The lowest number of births were recorded around late December and early January: 1,050 on Boxing Day, 1,142 on Christmas and 1,272 on January 1 – likely because NHS trusts schedule elective C-sections and inductions outside of public holidays.
Other baby lulls come in late November and early December, when babies would have been conceived in late February to early March amidst the post-Christmas lull.
Cevat Aksoy, an associate professor at King’s College London, has suggested that the drive in births can be directly linked to couples spending their bank holidays and other time off together.
He has previously linked working from home with a baby boom after a study in the US found lifetime fertility rises by an average of 0.32 children per woman when both partners work from home once a week.
He told a national newspaper: ‘The simple interpretation is that when people have time off, spend more time together, and face less work pressure, some couples may be more likely to conceive.
‘The holiday pattern does point to something important: time and stress matter.
‘I would put it this way: bank holidays may help explain the calendar of births, but they are not a solution to low fertility. They remind us that time, stress and work-family compatibility are central to the fertility question.’
It comes amidst a UK fertility crisis that could have long-term consequences for the economy, as fewer people opt to have fewer children.
England and Wales’ fertility rate dropped to a record low of 1.41 children per woman in 2024 – more than half the peak of 2.93 children in 1964 and below the ‘replacement-level’ rate of 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population.
It is even lower in Scotland, dipping to 1.25 children per woman in 2024, the lowest level on record; Northern Ireland consistently has a higher birth rate than the rest of the UK but has also seen a dip.
Birth rates have been in decline since the late 1960s, rising slightly in the late 2000s before dropping again throughout the 2010s and into the 2020s.
A landmark UN report published last summer suggests that a ‘lack of choice, not desire’ is behind a worldwide dip – with rising living costs, a lack of affordable housing and job security blamed.
However, lifestyle factors are also thought to be a cause – amongst both women delaying starting families to focus on their careers and men opting not to commit to traditional family life.
