Births cross 1 lakh first time since Covid

AHMEDABAD: The number of births in the city is showing signs of recovery after a three-year decline following the Covid pandemic.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s births and deaths report for the financial year 2022-23 shows the number of births in the city crossing 1 lakh for the first time since 2019.
While this is good news, the number of births in the city still remains below pre-pandemic levels.
Compared to 1.06 lakh births in the financial year ended 2019, there were about 5,000 fewer births in 2023.
Experts said the decline was mainly due to pandemic-related stress, family issues and couples delaying parenthood.
The number of births fell by between 8% and 10% in 2020 and 2022, with roughly 89,000 and 99,000 births respectively.
“Before the pandemic, from 2014 to 2019, the city averaged 1.05 lakh births a year. During the pandemic, these numbers plummeted,” said a AMC official. The AMC births and deaths registration data for 2021 and 2022 shows that birth rates dropped compared to 2019.
The most drastic decline was seen immediately after the first wave of the pandemic in 2020, when there were 89,552 births. This dropped further to 87,044 in 2021. By 2022, the number had risen to 99,130.