Sri Lanka’s annual live births fell to 214,570 in 2025, the lowest figure recorded in a decade, according to data released by the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs. The country registered nearly 120,000 fewer births in 2025 than it did a decade earlier, with the decline steepening sharply after 2019.
Official statistics show live births dropping almost every year: from 319,010 in 2019 to 301,706 in 2020, 284,848 in 2021, 275,321 in 2022, 247,900 in 2023, 220,761 in 2024 and 214,570 in 2025. The fall between 2019 and 2025 amounts to roughly 33 percent in six years.
Officials attributed the slide to a combination of economic and social factors, including delayed marriages, lower marriage rates, rising living costs, and the migration of young people of reproductive age. The separation of spouses due to overseas employment, a growing preference for smaller families, greater female participation in higher education and the workforce, changing attitudes toward family planning, wider use of contraception and fertility problems were also cited.
Minister of Women and Child Affairs Saroja Savithri Paulraj said the government would introduce support measures and incentives to encourage childbirth as the trend continues.
Authorities warned that the numbers now sit well below the level needed to sustain the population. Sri Lanka requires an estimated 330,000 to 360,000 live births a year to maintain long-term population stability — more than 100,000 above the 2025 figure. Demographers say a sustained gap of that size points to an ageing population and a shrinking future workforce.
