LJUBLJANA, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- A total of 19,123 births were given in Slovenian maternity wards in 2018, down from 19,706 in 2017, which is a three percent drop, meaning that the trend of falling recorded since 2011 continues in the nation with some 2.05 million people.
The final number of children born in 2018 is not available yet, but given that an average three percent of newborns come from multiple pregnancies, the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) believes almost 19,500 babies were born in Slovenia last year.
Since the NIJZ started gathering birth statistics in 1988, 2003 was the year when the fewest children were born in Slovenia -- only 16,917, according to the report of Slovenian Press Agency STA on Friday.
The number of newborns was then increasing until 2010, when 22,002 babies were born, but the trend reversed in 2011, with the number of newborns dropping to 21,567.
The NIJZ said on its website that last year's drop was much bigger than those in the 2011-2017 period.
