4.6% decrease in births in 2024 compared to the average for 2020-2023

Some 108,700 births were provisionally recorded in Belgium in 2024. That is some 5,200 fewer births than the average for the period 2020-2023, or a 4.6% decrease. This decrease can be observed in all regions: from a significant drop in the Walloon Region (-6.6%) and the Brussels-Capital Region (-7.7%) to a moderate decrease in the Flemish Region (-2.6%). This is what emerged from a first, provisional overview of the number of births in the year 2024 from Statbel, the Belgian statistical office.

The publication contains the provisional number of births down to the district level and is based on the 25 January 2025 extraction from the National Register.

This publication compares the number of births in 2024 with the average number of births for the period 2020-2023. 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 this we have to wait for the publication of the final population figures on 1 January 2025, which are expected in June 2025.

The year 2024 registers 4.6% fewer births than the average for the period 2020-2023

Some 108,700 births were provisionally recorded in 2024. That is some 5,200 fewer births than in the period 2020-2023, when an average of 113,861 births were recorded per year, or a 4.6% decrease.

The low number of births in Belgium in 2024, combined with the provisional mortality figures (112,131), will very probably result in a negative natural balance for the year 2024. So this relatively recent trend, namely a negative natural balance in Belgium, seems to be continuing.

Decline in Flanders, solid drop in Wallonia and Brussels

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

In the Flemish Region, approximately 61,900 births were registered. That is some 1,700 fewer than the average number of births in 2020-2023, or a 2.6% decline.

Just over 32,900 births were registered in Wallonia. That is a good 2,300 fewer births than the average number in the period 2020-2023, or a decrease of 6.6%.

Finally, the Brussels-Capital Region recorded just over 13,900 births. That is just under 1,200 births less than the average in the 2020-2023 period. Relatively speaking, Brussels registers the sharpest decline in the number of births of all regions (-7.7%) compared to the same reference period.

Table 1: Evolution of the number of births in Belgium and the Regions from 2020 to 2024

Large variation throughout the year

In 2024, the number of births is almost every month lower than average during the 2020-2023 period, exception in February. The decline in the number of births from March to December fluctuates between -2.0% and -11.1%, compared to the average in the 2020-2023 period.

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 2020-2023 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 2020 to 2024