Decrease in fertility in 2018, especially in Wallonia and Brussels

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Decrease in fertility in 2018, especially in Wallonia and Brussels

The final statistic on births for 2018 reflects a decrease in the number of newborn children of 1.1% compared to 2017. This decrease is more pronounced in Wallonia (-2.2%) and in Brussels (-1.9%) than in Flanders where the trend is rather towards stability (-0.3%).

In the majority of cases (84.5%), the newborn child is welcomed by a united couple (married or cohabiting). In 15.5% of cases, the mother giving birth is single. Moreover, as has been the case since 2015, just over half of the children were born out of wedlock (52.6%) in 2018.

It also appears that one child out of five is delivered by caesarean section in Belgium (21.1% of cases). This trend is relatively stable.

The mother's mean age at the birth of her first child increases again to 29.2 years. The mean age all ranks together amounts to 30.9 years for the mother and 34.1 years for the father.

The total fertility rate decreases further to 1.62 children per woman. It is particularly low in Limburg (1.48 children per woman) and in Walloon Brabant (1.53 children per woman) while in Brussels it amounts to 1.77 children per woman.