Press release No. 227 of 14 June 2023

WIESBADEN – In 2022, around 739,000 children were born in Germany, according to provisional results. The number of births was therefore 5.6% lower compared with the average for the years 2019 to 2021, and was down 7.1% from 2021, a year marked by a high number of births. Furthermore, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that births also remained at a low level at the start of 2023. Provisional figures indicate that roughly 162,000 children were born in the first quarter of 2023, a decrease, so far, of 4.8% compared with the same period of the previous year (170,000 births). In the past, birth rates reached similar lows in the first quarters of each of the years 2006 through to 2013.

It is too early to draw conclusions on the annual result solely on the basis of the low number of births in the first quarter of 2023. However, an analysis of trends over a longer time period reveals that the development of the number of births in the first quarter is often similar to that for the entire calendar year. A low birth rate in the first quarter of 2023 therefore dampens expectations for births to recover this year.

 

One of the main reasons for the falling number of births is the declining number of women in their late 20s to late 30s, i.e. the age range when most children are born. Currently, the impact of this development is particularly pronounced in the non-city Länder of eastern Germany, where the number of women born in the mid-1980s to mid-1990s is remarkably low. In addition, public uncertainty triggered by multiple crises may also have negatively affected family planning decisions.

Methodological notes:

Monthly results for 2022 and 2023 refer to the months when birth events occur and are still provisional. The number of births in the first quarter of 2023 may still increase slightly by 2% to 4% due to the late reporting of births for the past months. The final monthly results for 2022 and the 2022 fertility rate will be published in July 2023.

More information:

More information on the monthly development of births is provided on our website under the Current news (in German only) section of the Births page. The results of the birth statistics by month and Land up to March 2023 inclusive are available in the GENESIS-Online database (tables 12612-0002 and 12612-0101) and in the GENESIS-Online database in table segment 12612.