In 2024 only 453,901 births were recorded, which represents a 12 % collapse compared to 2023 and a 31 % decrease compared to 2015.
News Colombia.
The future demographic of Colombia is going through a key moment. According to the most recent report of the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE), in 2024 453,901 births were registered in the country, the lowest figure in the last ten years. This means a 12 % reduction compared to 2023, when 515,549 were reported.
The trend is even more drastic if a long -term analysis is made: in 2015 660,999 boys and girls were born, indicating that in less than a decade there were 207,098 births less, equivalent to a 31.3 %drop.
The DANE also reported that, between January and July 2025, 243,870 births were counted. Although the decrease against the same period of 2024 was 6.6 %, the entity emphasizes that this rate of decrease is more moderate than that observed in 2023 (-9.1 %) and 2024 (-13.7 %).
The reduction in births did not concentrate on a single region. According to the report, all departments in the country showed descents for 2024. The most critical cases were given in Vaupés (-21 %), Sucre (-20.4 %), Magdalena (-20.2 %) and Vichada (-19.4 %).
Even so, the Dane also pointed out a different behavior in the last decade: «Although, between 2015 and 2024, the report of the living births of mothers residing in the departments of Vichad The year 2024 and with respect to 2023, the contraction of births was observed in all departments, ”said the entity.
👶📉 In 2024, Colombia registered the lowest birth figure of the last decade: 453,901 living born, which represents a 12.0% drop compared to 2023.
📊 If compared to 2015, the decrease reaches 31.3%, that is, 207,098 births less in nine years.
📉 … pic.twitter.com/rgtyr4ocJB
– Dane Colombia (@dane_colombia) SEPTEMBER 25, 2025
Changes in fertility trends
One of the aspects that most attracts attention is the reduction of the fertility rate in young women. For the second consecutive year, the group of 20 to 24 years presented the largest fall, with a reduction of 55.6 points.
The descent was also reflected in adolescents: women aged 15 to 19 and those of 10 to 14 had the most notorious decreases. In contrast, women aged 40 to 44 were the ones who least reduced their fertility, with 20.4 %.
In 2024, the global fertility rate – which estimates the average number of children that a woman would have at the end of her reproductive life – reached its lowest value throughout the historical series: just 1.1 children per woman.
This indicator reflects a deep change in the reproductive habits of Colombian households and opens the debate on the country’s future, in a context where fewer and fewer children are born.
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