Recorded Live Births 1998-2024
Reliable birth statistics are necessary for population health assessment, health policy, and service planning, including for achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Birth registration in South Africa is governed by the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1992 (Act No. 51 of 1992, as amended) and administered by the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). When births are registered, the DHA issues a birth certificate and updates the national population register. Once the data has been captured, it is transferred to a database, from where the birth transactions are extracted for processing by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) and released as publicly available administrative data.
The target population in thus dataset is all births recorded on the Birth Register for the years 1998 to 2024. All births that occurred in South Africa, but where the parents were non-South African citizens or not permanent residents, have been excluded. This cumulative data is a valuable resource for demographic and policy research.