Births and fertility

9,403 Births in March

Population
9,403 Births in March

Statbel publishes today the provisional monthly results of the statistics on births.

The first provisional figures show that in March 2023, 9,403 babies were born in Belgium: 5,390 in Flanders, 2,859 in Wallonia and 1,154 in the Brussels-Capital Region.

These results were calculated based on Demobel, Statbel’s demographic database (source: National Register).

As these figures are provisional, it is not yet possible to draw any clear conclusions, either on a monthly or on an annual basis.

This will have to wait until the final publication of the population figures on 1 January 2024 mid-2024.

Births per province and the Brussels-Capital Region

Province/Region Jan 2023 Feb 2023 Mar 2023
Brussels-Capital Region 1,125 1,076 1,154
Province of Antwerp 1,570 1,483 1,616
Province of Flemish Brabant 897 816 963
Province of Walloon Brabant 290 304 303
Province of West Flanders 874 806 947
Province of East Flanders 1,185 1,095 1,171
Province of Hainaut 1,126 938 1,071
Province of Liège 891 838 826
Province of Limburg 632 579 693
Province of Luxembourg 227 227 252
Province of Namur 387 361 407
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Content

Purpose and brief description

The statistics on births and fertility are compiled based on two sources: the declaration forms for births at the municipal civil registry and the National Register. The first source is the most important and most extensive one. It provides a lot of information on all the children born in the country (de facto births) and on their parents. The second source is the fastest. However, it only provides information on the births of children whose mother is registered in the National Register. By combining these two sources and using the National Register as a basic source from 2010 on, the statistics only record live births to women residing legally in Belgium, regardless of whether these births take place in Belgium or abroad. These births are broken down according to the administrative units of the country, according to the main characteristics of the mother and according to certain characteristics of the newborn child. A number of fertility indicators can also be derived. It is therefore possible to position the level and evolution of the country’s demographic dynamics. The fertility rate by age is the ratio between the number of live births to women of a certain age and the average number of women of that age, for the given year. The total fertility rate (TFR) summarises the successive fertility rates by age and is the sum of those figures. The TFR is the number of children a woman would have in her reproductive years if she lived with the same fertility rate at each age...

Population

All live births

Periodicity

Annually.

Release calendar

Results available 1 year after the reference period

Definitions

Month of birth: Month of birth, from the date of birth

Child gender: Gender of the child

Place of birth: Place of delivery:

Twin birth: Total number of births, including stillbirths, following the pregnancy

Birth order of the child: Birth order of the child in all live births to the mother

Pregnancy duration: Duration of the pregnancy (in weeks) at the time of the birth

Type of childbirth: Type of help in childbirth

Birth defects: Presence of one or more birth defects

Weight: Weight (in grammes) of the child at birth

APGAR after 1 min: APGAR score after 1 minute.

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