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Big sister, little brother
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More than half of the children born last year had siblings when they were born.
360,000 of the total of around 770,000 newborns would be born as the first child in their family - that is a share of 47 percent, said the Federal Statistical Office.
More than a third (35 percent) or 270,000 babies were born as a second child, 140,000 or 18 percent were born as at least the third child of the mother.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, the numbers have changed since the first such survey in unified Germany in 2009.
At that time, with around 665,000 births, around 105,000 fewer children were born than in 2020. At that time, the proportion of first births was higher at 50 percent, while 34 percent of newborns were born as a second and 16 percent as a third or additional child.
According to preliminary results, there were around 100,000 more births in West Germany in 2020 than in 2009. The proportion of first and further children corresponded to the distribution in Germany as a whole and, compared to 2009, shifted slightly in favor of the second and further births, it was said.
In contrast, the number of births in the eastern German territorial states was similar to 2009. However, here the distribution according to the order of birth has changed more than in western Germany.
The proportion of first-borns in East Germany fell from 52 percent in 2009 to 43 percent last year.
With the second children it rose from 34 percent to 37 percent, with the third and further children from 15 to 20 percent.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, there are two reasons for the development: more German women have given birth to a second or further child and the proportion of births to foreign mothers who have two or more children more often has increased.
The birth figures are based on estimates based on registry office reports up to and including November.
The final data should be available in July.
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bbr / dpa