Sri Lanka has reported a significant decrease in annual birth rate between 2019 and 2022, according to the Department of Census and Statistics.
According to Ada Derana, despite a continuous decrease in birth rates since 2014, data shows a drastic drop in Sri Lanka’s annual birth rate between 2019 to 2022.
The department states a total of 268,920 births have been reported as of 01 July 2023, while a total of 275,321 births were reported in 2022.
A decrease of 6,401 in the number of registered births has been reported in 2023 compared to 2022, it added.
Revealing data on the previous years, the department said 284,848 births were reported in 2021, while over 300,000 births were recorded in 2020.
Various reasons, such as social and economic constraints, birth control plans, family planning methods and global pandemics are deemed to have contributed towards peoples’ decisions to not have children. (NewsWire)