Johannesburg - An annual report on the recorded live births in South Africa in 2021 has revealed an increasing number of teenage mothers during the year.
According to the Stats SA’s Recorded Live Births statistics reported, released on an annual basis, 1 087 526 births were registered by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) in 2021 and of these, 87,3% (949 757) were births that occurred and register in 2021 and 12,7% (137 769) were births that occurred in the previous years but were registered in 2021.
The Births and Deaths Registration Amendment Act (Act No. 18 of 2010), stipulates that all births must be registered within 30 days from the date of occurrence.
The report revealed that of the total 949 757 children born in 2021, there were 498 573 male and 491 056 female births.
Stats SA said the statistical release also provided information on trends in births that occurred during the period 1994 to 2015, and whether these are registered within a 30-day period as required by law. The release draws on data collected by the DHA through the civil registration system.
“Of note was the increasing number of teenage mothers in 2021. A total of 45 257 births were from mothers aged 17 years and younger and of these, 42 were births from mothers between the ages of 11 and 12,” Stats SA said.
The report further states that the negative impact of COVID-19 and national lockdown regulations such as the closure of DHA offices resulted in a 9,2% decline in registration within 30 days in 2020. However, a slight increase of 4% was observed in 2021 as the registration within 30 days increased from 71% in 2020 to 75%.
Late registrations of birth after the lapse of 30 days but before the end of the year, also decreased from 25% in 2020 to 20% in 2021, according to the report.
In 2021, 74,6% of births that occurred complied with the Births and Deaths Registration Amendment Act. However, the report said that KwaZulu-Natal province remains the only province which performs poorly in terms of early birth registrations with only 67,7% births registered within 30 days of occurrence.
Stats SA said information about fathers remains the biggest challenge with registering births.
“In 2021, no reliable information on fathers could be provided due to a high proportion of births registered (more than 60%) without the details of fathers,” Stats SA
“Amongst males, the top three leading forenames were Lethabo, followed by Lubanzi and Melokuhle. The leading forenames for females were Melokuhle in first place, followed by Omphile in second place and Iminathi in third place,” the report said.
The surnames Dlamini, Nkosi and Ndlovu have been the most common baby surnames in South Africa for the past eight years.
The Star