A total of 6,746 babies were born in Minsk in the first four months of 2010, 2.3 percent less than in the same period of the previous year, said the National Statistics Committee ahead of International Children's Day (June 1).
Every sixth residents of Minsk is currently under 17 years of age.
According to the Committee, 21,190 babies were born in Minsk in 2009, 1.6 percent more than in 2008, including 10,959 boys and 10,231 girls.
Half of the babies were registered as residents in three of the city's nine districts, namely the Zavodski, Maskowski and Frunzenski districts, the Committee said.
Almost 87 percent of the babies born in 2009 were born to married mothers. The share of babies born out of wedlock has been on the decline in the last decade, amounting to 16.6 percent in 2000, 13.6 percent in 2008 and 13.2 percent in 2009, according to the report.
As of early 2010, 76,600 children attended Minsk’s 436 kindergartens. As many as 163,600 children attended the city's 259 schools at the beginning of the 2009/2010 academic year, said the National Statistics Committee.
