The state represented 9.3% of births in Brazil in 2022; quantitative figures showed a reduction at the national and state levels
Minas Gerais has seen a decline in the number of births for the fourth consecutive year in the historical series analyzed by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The data follows a trend in the country, which also shows a reduction in registrations in the same period and reaches the lowest level since the 1970s.
According to a report with data from the Civil Registry, released this Wednesday (27/3), of the 2,537,013 births that occurred in the country in 2022 and registered in registry offices until the first quarter of 2023, 235,444 (or 9.3%) took place in Minas Gerais. Of those born in the state in 2022, 119,821 (i.e. 50.9%) were male and 115,608 (49.1%) were female.
The number of births showed a reduction at national and state levels when compared to the previous year and 2012: in Minas Gerais, there was a 2.8% drop in the number of births in 2022, when compared to 2021, and a reduction of 9.5 % compared to 2012.
Birth records that occurred in 2022 were also compared with the annual average of records made in the period from 2015 to 2019, five years before the COVID-19 pandemic. It was found that in 2022 there was a decrease of 24.9 thousand births in relation to this average in the state – equivalent, in relative terms, to a drop of 9.6%.
Intersections
Other data relating to birth rates in Brazil and Minas Gerais are favorable to research into the reproductive behavior of these women and changes in the age structure of each location. According to IBGE, the reduction in birth rates and fertility in Brazil, signaled by the latest demographic censuses and added to the effects of the pandemic, should be considered in the study on the evolution of births in Brazil and Minas Gerais in recent years.
Over the last eight years, it has been seen that fewer women become mothers during adolescence in the state: there has been a continuous reduction in the proportions of mothers in the age groups of less than 15 years and 15 to 19 years in Minas. Mothers under 15 were 0.60% in 2014 and fell by almost half, reaching 0.31% in 2022; those aged 15 to 19, which represented 15.4% of the total in 2014, fell to 9.7% in 2022.
On the other hand, the representation of mothers from older age groups has increased: in 2022, 48.1% of mothers of live births in Minas Gerais were aged 25 to 34 – which represents an increase of 1.7 percentage points compared to to the proportion registered in the state in 2014.
In the distribution of live births by month of birth, it appears that 9.2% were born in March, 9.1% in May and 8.8% in April; on the other hand, October (7.3%), September (7.7%) and November (7.8%) were the months with the fewest births in the state in 2022.
Based on the number of births, according to the mother’s age group and the population of women in each of these groups, it is possible to carry out studies on the reproductive behavior of these women and, thus, with other demographic indicators, monitor changes in the age structure from the country.
Source: Estado de Minas
