Belarusian Union of Women chair Volha Shpileuskaya spoke about reversing the negative birth rate trend in Belarus on October 21, 2025, during the talk show "Budni" on Alfa Radio and SBTV:
"Motherhood is in. Fatherhood is in. Marriage is back. There was a time when things were different, and no one's denying that. And why did we end up with this demographic slump, right? Because obviously, Western influences, Western traditional values, this whole childfree thing. ... At least now we're seeing a trend that this is actually changing."
The WTF team examined whether Belarusians are getting married and having children more often. According to Belstat, in 2024 Belarus recorded 6.5 births per 1,000 residents — the lowest rate in the country's recorded history (since 1940). The total fertility rate indicates that 100 average Belarusian women give birth to 108 children.
In the European Union, according to 2023 data, there are 138 children per 100 women. Data for 2024 are not yet available, but projections suggest the figure will be lower. In neighboring Poland and Lithuania, there are 110 and 111 children per 100 women, respectively. That's more than in Belarus.
The number of marriages in our country is declining: in 2024, Belarus recorded approximately 5.1 marriages per 1,000 people, compared to 6.1 in 2023 and 6.3 in 2022. And Belarusians are getting married later: men at an average age of 28.9, women at 26.7. A year earlier, men married at 28.8 and women at 26.5. Belarusians haven't cut back on divorces: in 2024, there were 3.8 divorces per 1,000 people, compared to 3.7 for the previous four years straight.
By comparison, European Union residents marry less often than Belarusians (for example, we had 6.1 marriages per 1,000 people in 2023, while the EU had 4). Though some countries, such as Latvia, Hungary and Romania, have higher marriage rates than Belarus. At the same time, the EU also has a divorce rate 2.5 times lower than Belarus.
