The number of babies born in the country rose last year for the first time in nine years.

According to data released by the interior ministry on Friday, 242-thousand-334 babies were born in 2024, up nearly 73-hundred babies or three-point-one percent from a year earlier.
 
Previously, the figure had decreased every year for eight straight years.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths rose one-point-93 percent on-year to 360-thousand-757 last year, leading to a natural population decline of 118-thousand-423 people.

The number of people registered as residents in the country reached 51-point-21 million last year, decreasing for the fifth consecutive year.