A Data Guru's Guide to UK Birth Rates!

Hello,

I'll caveat this with the statement that I do not have strong feelings either way as to when a couple should start producing offspring - before marriage, out of marriage, within marriage etc, it really doesn't bother me.

One night while watching tv, my random thoughts drifted into the following questions:

- Do married couples plan for families more so than unmarried couples?
- Are babies from unmarried couples the result of a spring or summer romance?
- What is the effect of Christmas celebrations have on birth rates for either type of couple?
- If, at this very moment my wife notices my furrowed brow and asks, "What are you thinking about?" Do I tell her the truth or say "What IS up with Simon (Cowell's) hair?"

Anyway, I wasn't expecting to find much difference to be honest, however, since you're reading this it probably indicates I did find some interesting things. For example:

Up until the mid 70's birth rates for married and unmarried couples spiked during March, April, and May then dipped from November to January. A change occurred during the mid 70's to 2004 when in almost every year this pattern has changed. The majority of births to married couples still occcured during the spring months, however the majority of births to unmarried women occur during August to October.

Going back to my thoughts about conception. Why is it that married couples are conceiving during the summer months, while unmarried couples tend to conceive from November to January. Could their actually be an Xmas Factor at play here?

Check out the data for yourself. Clicking on any individual year will update the 2 charts at the bottom (although only alternate years show, you can click the space in between).
The pie shows the number of total births for the year, the lines show the births by month. Additional observations and  'click' suggestions below:

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Thanks - Aneez