Fewer and fewer children are being born in Austria

Domestic births continue to decline: According to preliminary figures from Statistics Austria, 77,296 births were registered last year, which is 6.5 percent less than in 2022 and even 10.2 percent less than the average for the pre-pandemic years from 2015 to 2015 2019, it was said on Tuesday.

In contrast, there were 88,744 deaths, meaning 11,448 fewer people were born than died. This means that Austria has a birth deficit for the fourth time in a row.

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Vienna with more births

According to Statistics Austria General Director Tobias Thomas, the provisional number of deaths in 2023 was 7.1 percent above the five-year average before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. If one takes into account the increased population and changes in the age structure, slightly more deaths would have been expected in the previous year even without the pandemic than in the years 2015 to 2019. The final number of deaths should be slightly higher – estimated at around 90,000 – partly due to late registrations.

Significantly fewer late registrations are to be expected when it comes to births. The final number is expected to be around 300 to 500 children higher. Compared to 2022, there was a significant decline in births in all federal states. This was strongest in Tyrol at minus 9.2 percent, followed by Upper Austria and Burgenland with minus 7.8 percent each.

The number of newborns fell least sharply in Styria and Vorarlberg (minus 3.3 percent each). The preliminary balance of live births and deaths was positive in three federal states in 2023 – most pronounced in Vienna (plus 1,226). In six federal states, however, there were fewer newborns than deaths, especially in Lower Austria (minus 5,518), Styria (minus 3,138) and Carinthia (minus 2,242).

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