One-third more babies born in Brussels since 2000

In a second study by the Brussels Observatory for Health and Welfare, there were a third more babies born in Brussels since the year 2000, reports brusselnieuws.be. The report also reveals several more interesting statistics on births in Brussels, such as three-quarters of the new mothers are not native Belgians, improvements have been made in the way of mother and newborn health, the average age of first-time new mothers has gone up by one year in the past decade and one in ten are not insured under the Belgian social security system.

In 2012, 25,019 children were born in the Brussels-Capital Region, 19,500 of which were born in the City of Brussels. That is an increase of 31.5% compared to 2000, for a birth rate of 16.2 births per 1,000 inhabitants, significantly higher than in Flanders (10.8 births) and Wallonia (11.2).

While the study shows that 10% of the mothers who gave birth in 2010 did not have Belgian health insurance, it is likely that many of them are EU-migrants with some form of insurance elsewhere. The average age of a first-time new mother in the European capital increased since 2000, from 29.2 to 30.2 years.