Brazil registered 2,542,298 births in 2022, according to data from Civil Registration Statistics released this Wednesday (27) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The number is 3.5% lower than that recorded in 2021 (2,635,854) and 10.8% below the average for the ten years before the covid-19 pandemic, from 2010 to 2019 (2,850,430). This is the fourth consecutive reduction in registered births, which reached the lowest level since 1977, that is, in 45 years.
“The reduction in birth rates and fertility in the country, already signaled by the latest demographic censuses, added, to some extent, to the effects of the pandemic, are elements to be considered in the study on the evolution of births occurring in Brazil in recent years”, he states IBGE researcher Klívia Brayner
Drops were observed, from 2021 to 2022, in all regions of the country, with highlights being the Northeast (-6.7%) and North (-3.8%) regions. Among the 25 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 there was a decline in the participation of mothers aged up to 29 among the total number of births, between 2000 and 2022. On the other hand, mothers aged 30 or over increased their participation.
According to data presented this Wednesday, mothers under 20 accounted for 21.6% of births in 2000, rising to 18.5% in 2010 and 12.1% in 2022. The same trend occurred with mothers between 20 and 29 years old, which went from 54.5% in 2000, to 53.1% in 2010 and 49.2% in 2022.
The share of mothers aged 30 to 39, on the other hand, rose from 22% in 2000 to 26.1% in 2010 and 34.5% in 2022. Mothers aged 40 or over accounted for 2% of births in 2000 , rising to 2.3% in 2010 and 4.2% in 2022.
The total number of births that occurred and were not registered in Brazil in 2021 was estimated at 55,511, that is, 2.1% of the total.
Deaths
The research also 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 drop in deaths is an effect of the population’s immunization against Covid-19.
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 ).
At the beginning of 2022, covid-19 still affected the number of deaths, due to the omicron variant. January had a total of 161,180 deaths, the fifth month with the highest mortality of the pandemic, behind only the period from March to June 2021.
One thing that draws attention in relation to 2022 is the increase in the number of deaths among the population under 15 years of age. Growth reached 7.8% compared to 2021 for people up to 14 years old. Among children aged 1 to 4 years, the increase was even greater (27.7%).
For Klívia, the increase in deaths in this age group may be related to the late vaccination of children and adolescents against Covid-19, as the main causes of deaths include respiratory diseases such as flu, pneumonia, bronchiolitis and asthma.
