The Recorded live births, 2017 report released by Statistics South Africa today shows that a total of 989 318 births were registered in South Africa in 2017. This indicates an increase of 2,1% from the 969 415 birth registrations in 2016. Of the 989 318 births registered in 2017, 897 750 were current registrations (births that occurred in 2017) whereas 91 568 were late registrations (births that occurred in 2016 and earlier). A majority of the current births registrations were for male children (460 774) while 452 725 were for females, resulting in a sex ratio of 102. No comparable or reliable information on fathers could be provided due to a high proportion of births registered (61,7%) without details of fathers.
The most populous provinces Gauteng (239 457) and KwaZulu-Natal (197 913) had the highest number of total birth registrations. The lowest number of birth registrations were observed in Northern Cape (24 395) and Free State (50 130) which is also in line with the population sizes of the provinces.
The number and percentage distribution of registered births by age of the mother and status of registration for births that occurred in 2017 shows that of the 897 750 births that occurred and were registered in 2017, age group 30−34 years (95,5%) accounted for the highest proportion of current birth registrations, followed by 25−29 years (95,1%) and 35−39 years (94,7%). Current birth registrations for births that occurred in 2017 were lowest for age groups 10-14 years (39,9%) as well as age group 50-54 years (45,6%)
The births and Deaths registration Amendment Act (Act No. 18 of 2010) regulates that registration of birth must be within 30 days after birth has occurred. Of the 897750 births which occurred in 2017, 78% were compliant with regulation. North West was the leading province in terms of births registered within 30 days at 92% and the lowest was KwaZulu-Natal at 66%.
The most popular first names recorded for males were Enzokuhle followed by Lethabo and Melokuhle. Amongst females, the first three most common first names were Enzokuhle, Melokuhle then Amahle. The most popular surname for both sexes was Dlamini (6243) followed by Nkosi (5735) and Ndlovu (5573).
The table below shows the distribution of the top ten baby first names, middle names and surnames in South Africa for the year 2017:
Rank
Male
Female
Both sexes
First name
Number
Middle
name
Number
First name
Number
Middle
name
Number
Surname
Number
1
Enzokuhle
2 832
Junior
9 196
Enzokuhle
2 587
Precious
5 355
Dlamini
6 243
2
Lethabo
2 824
Blessing
4 694
Melokuhle
2 456
Princess
3 925
Nkosi
5 735
3
Melokuhle
2 487
Gift
3 735
Amahle
2 260
Angel
3 351
Ndlovu
5 573
4
Lubanzi
2 293
Prince
2 941
Lethabo
2 243
Blessing
2 631
Khumalo
5 263
5
Amogelang
2 164
Innocent
1 763
Amogelang
2 089
Faith
2 259
Sithole
4 440
6
Siyabonga
2 147
Lubanzi
1 353
Omphile
2 078
Hope
2 215
Mokoena
3 871
7
Bandile
1 976
Bandile
1 277
Lesedi
2 059
Grace
1 456
Mkhize
3 681
8
Junior
1 969
Enzokuhle
1 173
Rethabile
2 045
Pretty
1 361
Mahlangu
3 354
9
Bokamoso
1 877
Melokuhle
1 155
Luthando
1 919
Amahle
1 311
Ngcobo
3 310
10
Mpho
1 818
Siyabonga
1 147
Thandolwethu
1 784
Luthando
1 278
Mthembu
3 289
Recorded live births report is based on the birth registration records from the Department of Home Affairs (DHA). The report covers current birth registrations and occurrences of live births for 2017 recorded for a period of 14 months (from January 2017 up until February 2018).