Even so, birth rate falls by 1.2% on previous year
Around 84,650 babies were born in Portugal in 2024, 1.2% less than in the previous year – and a third were children of foreign mothers, according to data released today by INE National Statistics Institute.
According to the INE’s “Vital Statistics”, 118,374 deaths were recorded in 2024, 0.1% more (79 deaths) than in 2023, of which 252 deaths were of children under one year of age (42 more than in 2023), which resulted in an increase in the infant mortality rate to 3.0 deaths per 1,000 live births (against 2.5‰ in 2023).
“The worsening of the natural balance, in 2024, to -33,732 (-32,596 in 2023) was, therefore, determined mainly by the decrease in the number of live births”, highlights INE, noting that Greater Lisbon was the only NUTS II region (the name for the countries second-tier socio economic regions) where, for the second consecutive year, a positive natural balance was recorded (+929).
According to the data, in 2024, 84,642 babies were born to mothers residing in Portugal, representing a male-to-female ratio of 106 (for every 100 female children, around 106 males were born).
One third of babies born were children of mothers born abroad (a tad higher than the 29.2% in 2023), says INE, highlighting that, in the last decade, the proportion of live births to mothers of foreign nationality has more than doubled.
The proportion of live births to mothers of foreign nationality was higher than the national value (33.0%) in the regions of Greater Lisbon (47.8%), Setúbal Peninsula (46.9%) and Algarve (46.6%).
According to INE, the birth rate decreased in more than half of the country’s NUTS II regions, except in the West and Vale do Tejo (+1.0%), Greater Lisbon (+0.9%), the Setúbal Peninsula (+0.3%) and the Autonomous Region of Madeira (+2.6%).
With the exception of the Central region (-0.9%), in the remaining regions the decrease was greater than the national figure (-1.2%), with the Azores recording the largest drop (-8.4%).
In 2024, 66.2% of all births were to mothers aged 20 to 34, 32% to mothers aged 35 and over and 1.8% to mothers under 20, according to INE, noting that, between 2015 and 2024, there was a decrease of 0.9 percentage points in the proportion of live births to mothers under 20.
“Although, in the last two years, the proportion of live births to mothers aged 35 or over remained at 32%, in the period under analysis there was an increase of 2.4 percentage points in the proportion of live births to mothers aged over 35”.
The data shows that the average age of a mother at the birth of a child (regardless of birth order) was 32.1 years (the same as in 2023) while the birth of the first child was at an average age of 30.7 years (30.6 years in 2023).
Between 2015 and 2024, there was an increase of 0.4 years in the average age of mothers at the birth of a child and of 0.5 years in their average age at the birth of the first child.
As for mortality, data indicates that it increased in four of the nine NUTS II regions, with increases higher than that recorded at national level (0.1%), with the Azores standing out with the largest increase (3.6%), while Madeira recorded the largest decrease (-7.6%).
The majority of deaths (86.6%) were of people aged 65 and over, data states, adding that, between 2015 and 2024, decreases were recorded in the proportions of deaths of people under 65 and aged 65 to 79, of 1.8 and 1.2 percentage points, respectively, while there was an increase of 3.0 percentage points in the proportion of deaths of people over 80.
In 2024, also in NUTS II regions, the highest proportion of deaths occurred in the age group of 80 and over, representing more than 50% of mortality in all regions, with the exception of the Azores (46.2%). In the Centre, West and Vale do Tejo and Alentejo regions, the proportion of deaths in this age group was higher than the national value (respectively 66.0%, 63.7% and 65.4%, against 60.7%).
As to the statistics referring to the deaths of children under the age of one, these have been mentioned before and will be worrying healthcare providers, particularly at a time when the country’s SNS state health service is so constantly being criticised for its perceived failings.
Lusa
