IN CROATIA, the fewest children were born in 2023 since statistical measurements have existed, and there were more marriages, but also fewer deaths, which somewhat improved the negative picture of natural population growth, according to provisional data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS).

In 2023, 32,047 children were live-born, or almost 2,000 fewer than in 2022, when 34,027 were live-born, continuing the trend of a significant decrease in the number of live-born children. For example, in 2000, 43,746 children were born.

The data show that in 2023, as many as about 6,000 fewer people died than a year earlier. Last year, 51,319 people died, compared with 56,979 the year before. For comparison, in 2020 the number of deaths was 57,023, and in 2021, when the coronavirus was at its peak, as many as 62,712.

More marriages concluded than a year earlier

The markedly increased mortality in 2021 was a consequence of the coronavirus, from which 8,557 people died in Croatia that year, which affected the total number of deaths. Thanks to last year's drop in the number of deaths, the negative natural population growth was reduced, that is, the difference between the number of live-born children and the number of deaths, to minus 19,272 from minus 23,096.

However, due to the significantly smaller number of children born, the trend of declining natural population growth remains extremely unfavorable, Dubravka Rogić-Hadžalić, head of the social research sector at DZS, told Hina.

Marriages are the bright spot of vital statistics because 19,467 were concluded in 2023, or almost 1,400 more than in 2022, when 18,074 were concluded. The increase in marriages is also linked to the post-Covid period, in which those who had to postpone this important life event during the coronavirus crisis also got married.

Large drop in the number of live-born children

The provisional data for 2023, published by DZS on Wednesday, also showed that there were fewer divorces last year, with the number of divorces falling to 4,001 from as many as 4,808 divorces in 2022. Detailed and final data on natural population movement for 2022 showed that 34,027 children were born that year, or 7.2 percent fewer than a year earlier, with every fourth child born out of wedlock.

A significant drop in the number of live-born children is also shown by a comparison of data with earlier years, because in 2022 almost ten thousand fewer children were live-born than in 2000. The number of live births in 2005 fell to 42,492, and after rising to 43,361 births in 2010, it fell significantly in 2015 to 37,503 and further in 2020 to 35,845.

In 2022, there were 7.2 percent or 2,625 fewer live-born children than in the previous year, while the birth rate was 8.8 live births per 1,000 inhabitants. The total fertility rate, measured by the number of live births per woman of reproductive age, was only 1.53, which is significantly below the level of 2.1 that ensures population replacement.

Again the most first-born children

The fertility rate, measured by the number of live-born children per woman aged 15 to 49, in Croatia has been below the “replacement level” of two children since the end of the 1960s. “The reason lies in the unfavorable age structure and the emigration of the younger population from Croatia, which consequently leads to a smaller number of children born,” says Rogić-Hadžalić.

As in previous years, in 2022 the largest share was first-born children, namely 44.9 percent, second-born 34.2 percent, third-born 13 percent, and fourth-born and higher-order births 6.8 percent. Compared with data from 2000, there are no significant differences except in fourth-born and higher-order births.

In 2022, 8,405 live-born children were born out of wedlock, or 24.8 percent of all live-born children, while, for example, in 2000, 9 percent of children were born out of wedlock. The average age of the mother at first birth has been rising slightly for many years – in 1968 it was 22.8 years, in 2000 25.6, while in 2022 it was 29.5 years.

Significant decline in infant mortality over a longer period

The data show that almost ninety percent of women who gave birth in 2022 were employed or actively seeking work, and almost half of them had completed higher or university education. In 2022, as in previous years, the most people died from diseases of the circulatory system (34.3 percent of men and 43.8 percent of women) and neoplasms (27.0 percent of men and 19.7 percent of women).

In the same year, 139 infants died, of whom 25.9 percent died on the first day of life. Observing infant mortality over a longer period, a significant decline is noticeable. The infant mortality rate was 41.1 per 1,000 live births in 1968, 13.1 in 1988, 7.4 in 2000, and 4.1 in 2022.

The rate of natural increase, which shows the difference between the number of live-born children and the number of deaths in 2022, was negative and amounted to -6, while the vital index (live births per 100 deaths) was 59.5. In 2022, 18,074 marriages were concluded, which is 0.7 percent fewer than in 2021. The nuptiality rate shows that 4.7 marriages were concluded per 1,000 inhabitants.

Divorced marriages last longer than before

Of the total number of marriages concluded, 87.8 percent of brides and 87.7 percent of grooms entered into their first marriage. The average age at first marriage is increasing for both groom and bride. Thus, in 2000 the bride entered her first marriage at an average age of 25.3 years, and the groom at 28.6 years, while in 2022 the average age of the bride was 29.3 years and of the groom 31.7 years.

Of the total number of marriages concluded in 2022, 49.4 percent of couples entered into a civil marriage (8,929 couples), and 50.6 percent a religious marriage (9,145 couples). In 2022 there were 4,808 final divorces, or 266 per 1,000 marriages concluded.

Divorced marriages lasted an average of 15.3 years, while, for example, in 2000 it was 13.5 years. In 43.2 percent of divorced marriages there were no dependent children, in 29.3 percent there was one dependent child, and in 27.5 percent of divorced marriages there were two or more dependent children.

Most dependent children from marriages ended by divorce were entrusted to the woman (81.9 percent), 12 percent were entrusted to the husband, 5.8 percent to both husband and wife, and 0.3 percent of children to other persons and institutions.

Source: index.hr