Birth rates in Belarus are growing in both urban and rural areas

June 26, Minsk /Elena Prus - BELTA/. In Belarus, according to operational data, 44,712 children were born in January-May of this year, which is 4.6% more compared to the same period in 2008. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by Tatyana Shemetovets, Deputy Head of the Main Department of Employment Policy and Population of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection. Among the regions of the republic, Vitebsk region has become the leader in the growth of the number of births (107%). Minsk region is in second place (106.8%), Minsk is in third place (105.6%), and the lowest indicator is in Brest region (101.8%). Moreover, the birth rate is increasing both in cities and in rural areas. In January-May of the current year, 33.7 thousand sons and daughters were born in urban families, which is 4.7% more compared to the same period last year, and over 11 thousand babies were born in rural families (4.3% more). The number of newborns decreased only in urban settlements of Brest region and in rural areas of Mogilev region, noted Tatyana Shemetovets. The general fertility rate in January-May of this year for the republic as a whole was 11.2 per 1000 inhabitants (for comparison: in January-May 2008, it was 10.6 per mille). Among the regions of the country, the highest indicator was recorded in Brest region (11.8 per mille), and the lowest in Vitebsk region (9.9 per mille). In the five months of this year, 8,067 people arrived in Belarus, and 2,825 people departed. The migration increase for this period amounted to 5,242 people. The population of Belarus as of June 1 of this year was 9,663.5 thousand people. -0-