A total of 1,855 babies were born at the University Clinical Hospital in the southern city of Mostar during 2022, which is the record number of births in a year.

The record birth rate in the city comes amidst the drastic decline in the population in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Seven babies were born on New Year's Eve, which further improved the result from 2022. The 2022 total of 1,855 births broke the 2014 record, when a total of 1,849 babies were born in Mostar.

“This data speaks volumes that the birth rate in our region is at an enviable level,” said the head of the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics Vajdana Tomic.

Mostar Mayor Mario Kordic, who visited the mothers and handed them the gifts on this occasion, said he was happy that the last year's record was broken in the Mostar hospital.

A real baby boom was recorded during October when 25 babies were born in just four days.

According to the only population census conducted after the war in 2013, there were 3.5 million inhabitants in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but according to data presented by UN agencies and local institutions in recent years, no more than 2.6 million inhabitants live in the country.

Estimates by the UN Population Fund (UNPF) office in Bosnia and Herzegovina say that only 1.5 million inhabitants could live in the country in 50 years if the trends of people leaving and negative demography continue.