The Department of Statistics is pleased to announce the release of its Births Report for The Bahamas. This is the first time the Department has produced in one volume an analyses of the reproductive trends and patterns for the country over a forty year period.

HIGHLIGHTS

In 1970, when the population of The Bahamas was about 170 thousand, women were expected to have an average of four live born children throughout the childbearing age. Four decades later, with a population more than doubled, the number of children to women has decreased to two during their life time.

Reproductive trend

The Bahamas recorded its highest reproductive rates in 1970, when the birth rate peaked at 28.8 or nearly 29 live born children per thousand population. This rate steadily declined to 15.5 in 2010. Women between the ages of 20- 29 accounted for the largest proportion of births.

The general fertility rate which is the number of live born children per 1000 female aged 15-49, was highest in the country between the period, 1970 to 1985. From the 90’s, the fertility rate fell well below its highest level of 128.66 to 50 live births per 1000 women in 2005, with moderate increases from 2006 to 2010.

Teen Mothers

The birth rate to teen mothers 10-19 years of age has decreased significantly, from a high of 32.4 in 1970 to a low of 17.6 births per 1000 females in 2010.

Legitimacy

Births to unwed mothers escalated during the past forty years, from 29 percent in 1970, to a high of 62 percent in 2009. Births to this cohort of mothers remained the largest annual natural increase to the Bahamian population.

Foreign Origin

Nearly 30 percent of live births in The Bahamas were to women of foreign origin in 1970. Forty years later, births to this group of women have decreased significantly to 17.7 percent.

Stillbirth Trend

In 2010, The Bahamas recorded 61 Stillbirths (or fetal deaths). This number is some 56 percent lower than in 1970.

Please visit our website – statistics.bahamas.gov.bs for further details.