Sofia, February 9 (BTA) - Despite all hopes, Bulgaria's birth
rate did not increase during the pandemic, dropping from 54,762
births in 2019 to 53,968 in 2020, according to an analysis based
 on data of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).

The year on year drop of 794 births makes 2020 yet another year
of diminishing birth rate in Bulgaria.

Last year's deliveries were disproportionately distributed among
 105 medical institutions. Thirty hospitals each registered over
 1,000 births in 2020, six each assisted over 2,000 deliveries,
and four of them are in Sofia: Maichin Dom (3,397 births),
Sheinovo (2,285), St. Sophia (2,233), Nadezhda (2,045).
Plovdiv's Selena Hospital (2,279) and Varna's Prof. Dimitar
Stamatov Hospital (2,001) are in the same group. Another 14
hospitals each registered under 100 births last year. The lowest
 rates (under 50) we reported by smaller municipal hospitals in
Kavarna, Kubrat, Madan and Belogradchik.

The share of C-section deliveries was 47 per cent, almost equal
to the number of natural births. The two methods were favoured
disproportionately by Bulgaria's medical institutions. Nearly 40
 per cent of hospitals carried out more C-sections than the
country's average. Meanwhile, there were also hospitals where
100 per cent of the births were natural: St. Petka Bulgarska
Hospital in Nova Zagora (122 births), Belogradchik Hospital (44)
 and Ihtiman Hospital (91), among others.

The mortality rate during birth remains under 1 per cent. It was
 0.62 per cent last year, up from 0.52 per cent in 2019. The
highest mortality rates (2 to even 4 per cent) were registered
in three hospitals with fewer deliveries in Vidin, Nova Zagora
and Belogradchik.

In 2020 the share of premature births dropped by 1 per cent
compared to 2019, reaching 12.37 per cent.

NV/MT