In 2020, the number of newborns in Croatia dropped by 0.8 percent year-on-year, while the number of deaths rose by 10.1 percent compared to 2019, the state statistics bureau said on Thursday.

The number of live-born children went down in 2020, with 290 fewer children born than in 2019. A total of 36,987 births were registered last year, with 35,845 live-born children. The birth rate, that is the number of live-born children per 1,000 inhabitants, was 8.9 in 2020.

The number of live-born children has been decreasing over the past decade, with the smallest number of children born in 2020. For example, 41,197 live births were registered in 2011, compared to 36,135 in 2019.

In 2020, the number of deaths rose to 57,023, which is 5,229 or 10.1 percent up from 2019, when 51,794 Croatians died. The mortality rate in 2020 was 14.1.

2020 also saw the largest number of deaths since 2011. The second largest number of deaths, 54,205, was registered in 2015. Last year, 142 infants died, accounting for 0.25 percent of total deaths.

Natural population growth continues decline

In 2020, the rate of natural increase – the ratio between births and deaths – in Croatia was negative, at 21,178. In 2019, the negative difference was 15,659, and in 2011 it was 9,822.

All of Croatia’s 21 counties recorded a negative natural increase, with the largest net negative registered in the eastern Osijek-Baranja County, at 2,108.

On the lower administrative level, 34 towns and municipalities had a positive natural increase, 512 towns and municipalities – including the City of Zagreb – registered a negative natural increase, while 9 towns and municipalities reported zero growth.

In 2020, 15,196 marriages were registered, as well as 5,153 divorces. The number of divorces per 1,000 new marriages was 339.1.