The southern State of Kerala registered its highest drop in live births in a decade In 2021, as shown by the civil registration figures submitted by the Local Self-Government Department.

Between the period 2020 and 2021, the number of live births came down by 71,000 and thus for the past decade, the State’s live births came below four lakh for the first time.

Among the districts the sole exception was that of Ernakulam as it showed an increase in live births from 26,190 in 2020 to 27,751 in 2021 even as other districts registered a decrease by 1,000 to 16,000.

Among the districts the steepest decline was found to be in Malappuram, Kannur and Kozhikode as they recorded a fall of 18%, 22% and 26%, respectively while Trivandrum, Kollam and Thrissur recorded a decline of 5,000 to 6,000.

In the last 10 years the State has shown marginal variations in live births between years.

According to the officials connected with reproductive child health at the National Health Mission and obstetricians said that one of the major factors contributing for the decline in the overall number of births was the pandemic Covid-19.