The Vale of Glamorgan saw a 345 per cent baby boom, coming out as one of the UK locations with the highest number of lockdown baby registrations, according to a new study.

The research, by Reassured, analysed ONS births data and combined it with local register office figures sourced via freedom of information requests, to see how the number of registered babies compared with pre-pandemic, as well as where in the UK saw the biggest boom in births.

The Vale topped the charts by a large distance.

Reading was in second place with a 196 per cent increase in births.

Swansea, in fifth UK-wide, was the next placed Welsh location.

Birth registrations in Swansea were up 176 per cent between December 2020 (nine months after the start of the pandemic) and July 2021, when compared data for the same period over 2019 and 2020.

Overall, 4,000 babies have been registered in Swansea since the start of the pandemic, while more than 1,750 were conceived and subsequently born here since the UK first went into lockdown.

According to the data, May 2021 was the peak birthday month for Covid baby registrations in Swansea specifically.

Working back nine months, September 2020 came out as the month when the most Covid babies were conceived in the region.

Across the country, March 2021 saw the highest number of Covid baby births during the pandemic, with 58,409 new-borns registered across the UK.

Of these, 52,473 were in England and Wales, 3,693 were in Scotland and 1,990 were in Northern Ireland.

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Late-March 2020, when the first national lockdown began, was also a peak time for conception, with a higher-than-normal birth rate reported nine months later in December 2020 and January 2021 (47,823 and 47,500 respectively).

Of the register offices that responded to the freedom of information request, these were some of the top areas for a Covid baby boom.

A spokesman for Reassured said: “With all Covid-19 restrictions now lifted, we’re finally able to look back and explore any more positive outcomes of such a challenging time.

“Our analysis shows many took the big step of having a child in lockdown, with nearly a quarter of a million new-born babies registered by parents from December 2020 – nine months after the restrictive Covid-19 measures were put in place.

“We always recommend that new parents consider investing in insurance to ensure their children have financial protection if the worst should happen. After so many difficult months, a little bit of extra reassurance for the future can go a long way.”