Do you want to read our weekly top stories? Subscribe here.
A total of 80,000 children were born in Switzerland last year, 2.8% fewer than in the previous year following a decline in births among both Swiss mothers and those with foreign nationality.
However, the decline was higher among Swiss women at 4.2% than among women with foreign nationality (-0.8%), the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) announced on Thursday, confirming the definitive figures of its population statistics published in April.
A total of 56,100 children of Swiss nationality were born, and 23,900 with foreign nationality, meaning in total 2,300 fewer babies were born last year than in the previous year. This confirmed a downward trend seen since 2021. In 2022, however, the decline was much greater, with 7,300 fewer babies, or 8.1%.
At 5.1%, the decline in births in 2023 was more pronounced for women under 30 than for those over 30 (-2.1%). First births fell by 4.3% in the younger age category and by 1.7% in those aged between 30 and 39. Among women over 40, however, the figure increased by 3.2%. The average age for first births also rose slightly from 31.2 years in 2022 to 31.3 years.
The number of second births fell by 2.8% in 2023 while the number of third births fell the most, by 7.3%. The downward trend in the number of third children was observed across all age categories but particularly among mothers aged 30 to 39. In contrast, the number of births of fourth children rose slightly by 1.9% compared to the previous year.
Adapted from German by DeepL/kp
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Popular Stories
More
Swiss Politics
Swiss politicians concerned by Ukraine peace conference
What measures have been taken to prevent floods in your area?
Have you ever experienced a flood event? Have you witnessed a significant increase in flooding where you live? What measures have been taken in your country to prevent recurrent flooding? Are these measures effective?
Overnight earthquake in Germany felt in large areas of Switzerland
This content was published on
An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.2 on the Richter scale was felt throughout Switzerland during the early hours of Thursday.
Swiss government rejects right-wing population cap initiative
This content was published on
The Federal Council is against a proposal to cap the country’s population at 10 million, saying it jeopardises economic growth and security.
Equality not achieved in Switzerland according to the Federal Council
This content was published on
Equality between women and men has not yet been achieved in Switzerland. But the targeted promotion of gender equality represents significant progress.
Federal Council appoints Martin Schlegel as new SNB Chairman
This content was published on
Martin Schlegel will become Chairman of the Swiss National Bank and Petra Tschudin will become a new member of the Governing Board.
Federal Council to invest CHF3.5 billion in regional transport
This content was published on
The federal council wants to spend an average of 1.7% more per year on rolling stock and the further expansion of services for regional public transport.
One in five people in Switzerland do not get enough exercise, according to the WHO
This content was published on
According to a report by the WHO, a lack of exercise has significant consequences for people's health and is very expensive for the healthcare system.
Dead bodies in Lake Constance: German investigators identify Swiss man
This content was published on
German police have identified one of the two bodies recently discovered in Lake Constance. It is the body of a 79-year-old man from Chur in Switzerland.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.