Number of births registered in Brazil down in 2019

A survey entitled Vital Statistics, published today (Dec. 9) by the government’s statistics agency IBGE, shows that the births of 2,888,218 people were registered in the country in 2019. The research was based on data relayed by more than 20 thousand entities, among which notary’s offices and civil courts.

Of these, 2,812,030 were registered in their year of birth and 76,188 were born in previous years. The number of people born and registered in 2019 was down three percent in Brazil compared to the previous year, after two years on the rise (2.6 percent in 2017, 0.9 percent in 2018). The sharpest plunge was observed in Rio de Janeiro state (-5.4%).

From 2010 to 2019, the highest proportions of people born alive were reported to have, at the time of birth, mothers aged 20 to 24 years (24.5%), 25 to 29 (23.8%), and 20 to 24 (21.1%). The lowest percentage of people born alive in 2019 had mothers aged 40 or older (3.4%).

The figures also reveal a decline in births among younger women compared to previous years and an increase among women aged 30 through 39 last year, which confirms the reduction in fertility rates among younger women exhibited in demographic censuses.

Births with mothers aged 30 or older now accounts for 37.4 percent of all births in the country, compared to 23.7 percent in 1999.

Deaths

In 2019, civil statistics included 1,331,983 deceased, of whom 1,317,292 died during the year and 14,691 (or 1.1 percent of the total) in previous or unknown years. From 2018 to the following year, the total amount of deaths increased 2.63 percent (33,796 registered occurrences).

The survey indicates that, from 1978 to 2019, the percentage of deaths among people aged five or younger plunged from 30.1 to 2.7 percent. Conversely, death among 65-year-olds and older surged from 32.6 to 61.1 percent.

Rating non-natural deaths by sex and age, most deaths in 2019 were reported among men, in the age groups from 20 to 24 years old (12,457), 25 to 29 (10,141), 30 to 34 (9,102), and 35 to 39 (8,125). Women were only ahead of men when deaths among people aged 80 and more are considered: 2,601—against 2,493.

In 2019, 98,850 deaths from non-natural causes were registered in Brazil, especially in the North (11.3%), followed by the Northeast (9.8%), and the Central-West (8.3%). In all regions, a decrease was noted in non-natural causes compared to 2009. In that year, the highest percentages were seen in the Central-West (13.1%) and the North (12.2%).

Civil marriage

In 2019, 1,024,676 civil marriages were performed, of which 1,015,620 between people of different sexes, and 9,056 between people of the same sex. The only region with a significant increase in the number of same-sex marriages (6.5%) between 2018 and 2019 was the North.

A retraction was seen in civil marriages in general compared to 2018, from 2.7 percent (28,791 fewer unions). This was the fourth consecutive drop in the yearly comparison: -3.7 percent from 2015 to 2016, -2.3 percent from 2016 to 2017, -1.6 percent from 2017 to 2018, and now -2.7 percent from 2018 to 2019.

The monthly average of registered marriages stood at 84,635. All regions experienced a drop in the amount of civil marriages registered at a notary’s office, especially in the Southeast (-4%).

The study also brings to light that the number of same-sex marriages, after the 61.7 percent jump detected from 2017 to 2018, went down 4.9 percent from 2018 (9,520) to 2019 (9,056). The total of marriages of this type, last year, however, is still way above 2017’s 5,887.

Divorce

Last year, 383,286 divorces were registered (-0.5 percent from 2018)—302,883 of which judicial and 80,403 extrajudicial. From 1984 to 2018, the average was three marriages to one divorce. The general divorce rate, 0.44 percent in 1984, grew to 2.48 percent in 2019.

IBGE’s survey identifies that, as a result of the Divorce Law, the proportion of shared custodianship among spouses with underage sons and daughters, 7.5 percent in 2014, rose to 26.8 percent in 2019.