4.5% decrease in births in 2023 compared to the average for 2019-2022

Some 110,400 births were provisionally recorded in Belgium in 2023. That is some 5,200 fewer births than the average for the period 2019-2022, or a 4.5% decrease. Regional differences are significant: the figures show a decrease in the Flemish Region (-2.3%) and the Walloon Region (-5.0%) and a substantial drop in the Brussels-Capital Region (-12.0%) compared to the period 2019-2022. This is what emerged from a first, provisional overview of the number of births in the year 2023 from Statbel, the Belgian statistical office.

The publication contains the provisional number of births down to the district level in 2023 and is based on the 3 February 2024 extraction from the National Register.

This publication compares the number of births in 2023 with the average number of births for the period 2019-2022. The evolution of the number of women of childbearing age and the population structure were not taken into account. Further scientific research must show their impact on the number of births. These provisional figures do not yet allow us to make any clear statements, but they give a rough idea of the evolution of the number of births. A more detailed analysis will be possible when the final number of births is calculated. For that, we have to wait for the publication of the population figures on 1 January 2024, which will be published in June 2024.

The year 2023 registers 4.5% fewer births than the average for the period 2019-2022

Some 110,400 births were provisionally recorded in 2023. That is some 5,200 fewer births than in the period 2019-2022, when an average of 115,587 births were recorded per year, or a 4.5% decrease.

Decrease in Flanders and Wallonia, significant drop in Brussels

Behind the evolution in the number of births are large regional differences.

In the Flemish Region, approximately 62,400 births were registered. This is just under 1,500 fewer than the average number of births in 2019-2022, or a 2.3% decline.

Just over 34,100 births were registered in Wallonia. That is a good 1,800 fewer births than the average number in the period 2019-2022, or a decrease of 5.0%.

Finally, the Brussels-Capital Region recorded just under 13,900 births. This is some 1,900 fewer births than the average for the 2019-2022 period. Consequently, Brussels has the sharpest decline in the number of births of all regions with 12.0% compared to the same reference period.

Table 1: Evolution of the number of births in Belgium and the Regions from 2019 to 2023.

Large variation throughout the year

In 2023, the number of births was each month lower than the average for the period 2019-2022. The decrease in the number of births compared to the average for the period 2019-2022 varies every month between -1.9% and -10.5%.

However, these variations on a monthly basis should be interpreted with caution. Rather unusual fluctuations in the number of births per month were observed at the end of 2020 and in 2021, this presumably due to the coronavirus pandemic. This period is part of the 2019-2022 reference period and thus affects to some extent the average number of births per month in this period.

Table 2: Evolution of the number of births per month from 2019 to 2023.

• 8,691 births in December 2023