The number of babies born in Brussels dropped sharply last year due to potential parents' fears for the future, migration out of the city and other demographic trends.
A report published by the regional agency Perspective Brussels on Monday shows that there were 13,987 babies born in the Brussels-Capital Region in 2024, down by 757 since 2023 and by 4,600 since 2010, the year when the city's fertility rate peaked.
The report refers to the drop as an "unprecedented demographic situation". The Region has always had a lower fertility rate than the rest of the country but the trend has accelerated due to a number of demographic changes. according to the Brussels Institute for Statistics and Analysis (IBSA).
'Uncertain global context'
The report identifies four main reasons why Brussels residents choose to reproduce less, or not at all. A portion of residents are choosing to have fewer children out of fear of an uncertain future caused by "economic, geopolitical and climate instability."
Women want to have babies later and later, and while this reduces the amount of babies born to young mothers, the decline is not offset by a high natality rate among older women. The overall rate therefore decreases.
More and more households are located in suburban areas as far out as Flanders and Wallonia. "This migration favours fertility on the outskirts, where it is higher than in the capital," the report states.
Brussels is an ethnically diverse city and 45% of "women of childbearing age" (between 15 and 49) are of non-Belgian nationality. This group's fertility rate has fallen at a faster rate than that of Belgian women, which IBSA says is a result of the majority of new arrivals to Brussels being of European origin. New arrivals therefore have fewer children than previous waves of immigration.
