South Africans welcomed more than one million babies in 2018, the country’s statistical agency announced on Friday.
According to Statistics South Africa (StatsSA), “a total of 1,009,065 births were registered in 2018,” up two percent on the figure recorded during the previous year.
“This includes the total number of births that occurred and were registered for the year 2018, which was 927,113 as well as 81,952 of late registrations,” StatsSA said.
An interesting statistic, according to the agency, was that mothers aged between 20 and 29 years accounted for more than 50 percent of all births.
The largest number of births were to mothers aged between 25 and 29 who registered 259,182 births or 25.7 percent of total while those in the 20-24 age group accounted for 251,551 births or 24.9 percent.
They were followed by those between and 30 and 34 years old who recorded 211,251 births.
The lowest group was women between 50 and 54 years, with only 381 births, Stats SA noted.
NM/jn/APA