The overall number of births and deaths in Serbia in the first eight months of 2020 was higher than a year earlier, Belgrade daily Politika said quoting the latest data from the Republic Statistics Office (RZS).

It said that there were three percent more deaths than a year earlier and 2.4 less births.  

The daily said that 2,071 more people died in that period of 2020 than in the same period of 2019. According to the RZS data, a total of 70,322 people died between January 1 and September 1 this year compared to 68,251 in that period of 2019. Politika said that a drop in the mortality rate was recorded for the first five months of this year compared to the same period of 2019 with 1,360 less deaths reported, the daily said and quoted experts who said that the seasonal flu was much less wide-spread than in earlier years in January and February.  

Politika said that the number of births also dropped by 988 for the January-September period with 40,599 births reported in that period of 2020 compared to 41,547 in 2019 which means that there were 2.4 less births with three percent more deaths.