There were more than 1-million births registered in SA in 2021 and 45,257 babies were born to teenage mothers.
A Stats SA report said a total of 1,087,526 births were registered in SA.
“Of these, 949,757 (87.3%) were births that occurred and were registered in 2021 [current birth registrations], while 137,769 (12.7%) were births that occurred in the previous years but were registered in 2021. Of the total 949,757 children born in 2021, there were 498,573 male and 491,056 female births.
“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 in a statement on Monday.
It said Covid-19 and the national lockdown regulations had a negative impact. It led to the closure of the department of home affairs offices which resulted in a 9.2% decline in registration within 30 days in 2020.
“However, a slight increase of 4% was observed in 2021, i.e. 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.
“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. In 2021, 74.6% of births that occurred complied with this amendment.
“However, 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. Information about fathers remains the biggest challenge.
“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. 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,” said Stats SA.
It noted that the surnames Dlamini, Nkosi and Ndlovu have been the most common baby surnames in the country for the past eight years.
newsdesk@sowetan.co.za
Birth bonanza of SA babies in 2021
Thousands of teen mothers have kids
Image: Gallo Images/Thinkstock
There were more than 1-million births registered in SA in 2021 and 45,257 babies were born to teenage mothers.
A Stats SA report said a total of 1,087,526 births were registered in SA.
“Of these, 949,757 (87.3%) were births that occurred and were registered in 2021 [current birth registrations], while 137,769 (12.7%) were births that occurred in the previous years but were registered in 2021. Of the total 949,757 children born in 2021, there were 498,573 male and 491,056 female births.
“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 in a statement on Monday.
It said Covid-19 and the national lockdown regulations had a negative impact. It led to the closure of the department of home affairs offices which resulted in a 9.2% decline in registration within 30 days in 2020.
“However, a slight increase of 4% was observed in 2021, i.e. 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.
“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. In 2021, 74.6% of births that occurred complied with this amendment.
“However, 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. Information about fathers remains the biggest challenge.
“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. 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,” said Stats SA.
It noted that the surnames Dlamini, Nkosi and Ndlovu have been the most common baby surnames in the country for the past eight years.
newsdesk@sowetan.co.za
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