South Africa's birth rate has increased 2.1% with a total of 989 318 births registered in 2017 compared to the 969 415 births in 2016.

According to the Recorded Live Births 2017 report released by statistician-general Risenga Maluleka in Pretoria on Monday, the majority of the births were those of boys at 460 774 against the birth of 425 725 girls. This resulted in the sex ratio of 102 to 100.

Gauteng accounted for the majority of births with 239 457. It was followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 197 913 births while Northern Cape and Free State recorded the least number of births with 24 395 and 50 130 respectively.

Most births, 95.5%, occurred to mothers between 30 and 34 years. They were followed by the 25-29 age group which accounted for 95.1% and those between 35-39 years accounted for 94.7% of the births.

The results show that the 10-14 age group accounted for fewer births at 39.9% while those between 50 and 54 years accounted for 45.6% of the births.

Popular first names for males were Enzokuhle (Do Good) followed by Lethabo (Joy) and Melokuhle (Stand for Good). Among girls, the first three most popular names were Enzokuhle, Melokuhle and Amahle (Good Ones). The popular surname for both sexes was Dlamini (6 243). It was followed by Nkosi (5 735) and Ndlovu (5 573).

The report is based on birth registration records from the department of home affairs and covers births recorded for a period of 14 months (from January 2017 to February 2018).