Number of births in Brazil reaches lowest level since 1977

The number of births to Brazilians in 2022 reached the lowest level in 45 years, according to data from Civil Registry Statistics, released this Wednesday (27) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). were registered 2.54 million of births in Brazil, a drop of 3.5% compared to 2021.

According to IBGE, this was the fourth consecutive decline in the country’s total births, which reached the lowest level since 1977. Northeast (-6.7%) and North (-3.8%) had the most intense declines. Among the 27 Federation Units, the main reductions occurred in Paraíba (-9.9%), Maranhão (-8.5%), Sergipe (-7.8%) and Rio Grande do Norte (-7. 3%).

The only states with an increase in the number of births in the period were Santa Catarina (2.0%) and Mato Grosso (1.8%).

The months with the highest number of births registered in 2022 were March (233,177) and May (230,798). October recorded the lowest number: 189,003.

The IBGE also found that in the analysis of birth records that occurred in 2022, there was a tendency for women to have children later, although the predominance is still in the 20 to 29 age range (49.2%). However, in 2010, this percentage was 53.1%. The downward trend in the under 20 age group also continued: the percentage, which was 18.5% in 2010, went to 13.2% in 2021 and fell to 12.1% in 2022.

Number of deaths

Regarding the number of deaths, the research revealed that Brazil recorded 1.5 million deaths in 2022, a drop of 15.8%, that is, 281.5 thousand fewer compared to the previous year.

The year 2021 had registered a record number of deaths (1.78 million), in the historical series of research, which began in 1974. Even so, 2022 had an increase in deaths compared to 2019, the pre-pandemic year (1.31 million deaths ).

In terms of age group, there was an increase in the number of deaths from 2021 to 2022 in the population under 15 years of age. In total, 40.1 thousand deaths were recorded for people aged 0 to 14, 7.8% more than in 2021 (37.2 thousand). The biggest increase occurred among children aged 1 to 4 years: there were 6 thousand deaths, 27.7% more than in 2021 (4.7 thousand).

“According to information from this system, deaths caused by respiratory diseases such as flu, pneumonia, bronchiolitis, asthma and others corresponded to more than 60% of the difference in the total number of deaths in this age group between 2021 and 2022. Considering that vaccination of Brazilian children and adolescents was vaccinated later than adults, and that, therefore, they took longer to complete the vaccination schedule, it is possible that COVID-19 contributed strongly to this situation”, explains the research manager , Klívia Brayner.

*With information from the IBGE Agency