In July, 19% fewer people died in Portugal compared to the same month in 2022 and 2.6% more babies were born alive in June compared to June last year, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE).
According to monthly data released today by INE on mortality, births and marriages, there were 8,696 deaths in July, 1.2% (-109) less than in June and 19.0% (-2,044) less than in July 2022.
Last month 11 fewer people died from covid-19 than in June, bringing the total to 140 deaths, which represented 1.6% of the overall number of deaths in July.
Compared to July 2022, there were 327 fewer deaths in July this year due to covid-19, a pandemic respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, detected in late 2019 in China and which has taken on several variants and subvariants, some more contagious than others.
According to the vital statistics, which for live births and marriages only show data for June, the number of babies born alive this month was 6,913, which corresponds to an increase of 2.6% compared to June 2022, which totaled 6,736 live births.
When comparing the six-month figures, the number of babies born alive increased by 5.2% (+2,043) between January and June this year, to 41,296, compared to the same period in 2022, which recorded 39,253 live births.
Despite being negative, the natural balance (the difference between the number of live births and the number of deaths in a given period) fell last June (-1,874) compared to June 2022 (-3,464).
The natural balance is negative when the number of live births is less than the number of deaths.
In half-year terms, between January and June 2023 the accumulated value of the natural balance was -19,197, representing a reduction compared to the same period in 2022, which registered -24,659.
INE statistics also show that in June there were 5.4% fewer marriages in Portugal (-218) than in the same month in 2022, totaling 3,816 marriages.
Despite this drop, there were 6.6% (+922) more marriages celebrated in the first half of 2023 than in the same period in 2022, for a total of 14,894 marriages.
The next monthly vital statistics will be released on September 15.
