In 2004 the Statistics Office registered 40,307 newly born children, 639 children more than in 2003. Of that number, 51.8 percent were male children and 48.2 female. Last year 179 children were stillborn, which is almost the same number as the year before.
The number of deceased persons dropped by 2,819 in relation to 2003.
Of 49,756 deceased persons, 50.9 percent were men and 49.1 percent women.
Although the number of deceased persons in 2004 was lower and the number of newly born children was higher than in the previous year, the population growth was negative as in the previous four years.
In 2004 the number of deceased persons was higher than the number of newly born children by 9,449.
Negative population trends are still present, which is evidenced by the vitality index - the ratio of newly born children and deceased persons, which in 2004 was 81:100, the year before 75.5:100 and in 2000 87.2:100. It was only in 2004 that the number of the newly born children increased, but it did not exceed the number of deceased persons.
Positive population trends were registered only in Split-Dalmatia and Dubrovnik-Neretva counties.
Demographers have been warning about the negative population trends for years and two years ago the UN estimated that if those trends continued, Croatia would be constantly losing population in the next 50 years. According to those estimates, in 2050 Croatia's population would be reduced by 860,000 in relation to today, with one-third of the population being older than 69.