Births: key figures

Key figures on fertility, live and stillborn children and multiple births among inhabitants of The Netherlands.

Available selections:

• Live born children by sex;
• Live born children by age of the mother (31 December), in groups;
• Live born children by birth order from the mother;
• Live born children by marital status of the mother;
• Live born children by country of birth of the mother and origin country of the mother;
• Stillborn children by duration of pregnancy;
• Births: single and multiple;
• Average number of children per female;
• Average number of children per male;
• Average age of the mother at childbirth by birth order from the mother;
• Average age of the father at childbirth by birth order from the mother;
• Net replacement factor.

CBS is in transition towards a new classification of the population by origin. Greater emphasis is now placed on where a person was born, aside from where that person’s parents were born. The term ‘migration background’ is no longer used in this regard. The main categories western/non-western are being replaced by categories based on continents and a few countries that share a specific migration history with the Netherlands. The new classification is being implemented gradually in tables and publications on population by origin.

Data available from: 1950 Most of the data is available as of 1950 with the exception of the live born children by country of birth of the mother and origin country of the mother (from 2021, previous periods will be added at a later time), stillborn children by duration of pregnancy (24+) (from 1991), average number of children per male (from 1996) and the average age of the father at childbirth (from 1996).

Status of the figures: All data recorded in this publication are final data.

Changes per 23 November 2023: None, this is a new table. This table replaces table 'Birth; key figures, 1950-2022' which has been discontinued. A link to this table is included in section 3. The following changes have been made: The topics relating to live born children by migration background of the mother have been replaced by live born children by country of birth (Netherlands, outside the Netherlands) and country of origin of the mother.

When will new figures be published? In the third quarter of 2024 final figures of 2023 will be published in this publication.