site.btaOf 61,882 Children Born in 2019, 58.5 Per Cent Were Out of Wedlock

Sofia, April 14 (BTA) - A total of 61,882 children were born in
Bulgaria in 2019, of whom 61,538 (99.4 per cent) were live born.
 The number of live births decreased by 659 or 1.06 per cent
from the previous year, the National Statistical Institute found
 in a report on Population and Demographic Processes in 2019.

The crude birth rate in 2019 was 8.8 per 1,000 persons of the
average annual population during the year, compared to 8.9 per
1,000 in 2018. At 31,515, the live-born males outnumbered the
30,023 live-born females by 1,492, i.e. 953 girls were born
against 1,000 boys. Live births in urban areas numbered 45,991
and those in rural areas 15,547. The crude birth rate was 8.9
per 1,000 in urban areas and 8.5 per 1,000 in rural areas. The
highest crude birth rate was registered in the administrative
regions of Sliven (12.4 per 1,000) and Sofia City (9.8 per
1,000). The crude birth rate was lower than the country average
in 17 administrative regions and lowest in Smolyan Region (6.2
per 1,000) and Vidin (6.5 per 1,000).

Women of childbearing age (15-49 years) numbered 1,464,000 by
December 31, 2019, fewer by 27,000 from 2018 and by 186,000 from
 2011.

Mothers aged under 18 gave birth to 2,948 children in 2019. The
number of children born by women aged 40 and over was 2,284 in
2019, up from 2,154 in 2018. First births accounted for 50.5 per
 cent of all births in 2019, second for 36.6 per cent, and third
 or further for 12.6 per cent.

The average number of live born children per woman in 2019 was
1.58, up by 0.02 from 2018.

The mean age of women at first birth increased from 27.2 years
in 2018 to 27.3 years in 2019. The mean age of women at first
birth varied from 30.3 in Sofia City to 22.9 in Sliven Region.

The 1,164 multifetal births registered in 2019 were 47 more than
 in 2018. Twins were born in 1,153 cases and triplets in 11
cases.

As many as 36,199 children, or 58.5 per cent of the total, were
born out of wedlock in 2019. The share of extramarital births in
 rural areas (64.6 per cent) was larger than in urban areas
(56.4 per cent). The fathers were on record in 79.8 per cent of
the extramarital births, which implies that these children were
most probably raised by de facto cohabitants. The largest share
of extramarital births was registered in the regions of Vratsa
(76.6 per cent) and Lovech (74.8 per cent). The share of
extramarital births in all regions exceeded 50.0 per cent with
the exception of Razgrad (47.8 per cent), Blagoevgrad (47.1 per
cent), and Kurdjali (32.5 per cent). NV/LG