According to preliminary figures, 5,653 children were born in February 2025, marking a 9.1% decrease compared to the same month last year. Adjusted for the leap-day in 2024, the decline still stood at 5.8%. Over the same period, 10,934 people lost their lives—0.7% fewer than the previous year, though leap-day adjusted figures suggest a 2.8% increase in deaths.
The natural population decrease—the difference between births and deaths—widened to 5,281 in February, 10% higher than last year. Adjusted for leap-year discrepancies, the natural decrease was 14% higher than in February 2024.
Marriage figures also fell, with 2,042 couples tying the knot, representing a 14% drop year-on-year. Even after accounting for the calendar effect, the decline remained significant at 10%.
In the first two months of 2025, 12,043 children were born, down 6.5% from the same period in 2024. Deaths rose by 3.5% to 23,886. The natural population decrease for January–February reached 11,843, up 16% compared to the same months in 2024, or 18% when adjusting for leap-year effects.
The fertility rate also declined, estimated at 1.34 children per woman, compared to 1.40 a year earlier. Meanwhile, the number of marriages in the first two months of 2025 dropped by 9.7% to 3,646.
Per thousand residents, there were 7.8 live births and 15.5 deaths, widening the rate of natural decrease to 7.7 per mille. The infant mortality rate improved to 2.7 per thousand live births, down from the previous year. The marriage rate declined slightly to 2.4 per mille.
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