SINGAPORE: The number of births in Singapore fell to 39,615 in 2017 - a 4 per cent decrease from the previous year when 41,251 births were recorded, according to statistics released by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) in June.



Data from the Department of Statistics also showed that this was the lowest number of births since 2010 when 37,967 births were recorded.



Within this eight-year period, the highest number of births was recorded in 2012, the year of the dragon, with 42,663 births.



Birth and death numbers in Singapore since 2008. (Source: ICA)

While there was a fall in the number of births, there were more deaths recorded in 2017.

According to ICA, there were 20,905 deaths last year. This is 4.4 per cent more than what was recorded in 2016.



The majority of the deaths were recorded in hospitals and 17,192 deceased persons in 2017 were aged 60 or older.

ICA added that the two most common causes of death in Singapore were malignant neoplasms or cancerous tumours, and heart and hypertensive diseases.

These diseases accounted for 52.8 per cent, or more than half, of the recorded deaths in Singapore last year.

