Population Growth Slows in Belize, Fertility Rates Down Except in Toledo District

Fertility rates are down across the country, except for the Toledo District. Yesterday, the Statistical Institute of Belize unveiled the results from its population and housing census 2022. SIB’s data shows that the country’s household population count stands at three hundred ninety-seven thousand four hundred eighty-three. However, previous estimates projected that the number was to be around 441 thousand. According to SIB’s Director General, Diana Castillo Trejo, aging and low fertility rates are slowing the population’s growth.

Diana Castillo – Trejo, SIB Director General: “As of 2010, our national household population stood at 322,424. In 2022, our total population count was 397,483. We can take a look at how our population has changed just in a snapshot form over the past several decades. And we will see that there have been not only changes in terms of growth of the population, but also changes in terms of our general age structure. So you will see over time that the very base of our pyramid, which indicates, you know, our younger population, has been steadily widening right up until 2010, which was the first census in which we observed that our very base, our children aged 0 to 4 years old was actually narrower relative to the age groups just above it. By 2022, we can see that this trend was even more pronounced and this is signaling at least the beginning of a gradual aging of our population. Remember, fertility rates are declining, people are having less children, base of our population is shrinking, and we are starting to age as a population over time. At the national level, our population grew between 2010 and 2022 by just over 75,000 persons or 23.3%. There was growth experienced across all the districts but some districts grew more rapidly than others. The Stann Creek district had the greatest rate of growth over the 12-year period increasing by 40.3% between 2010 and 2022 while the Corozal district had the lowest with a growth rate of 10.4% over the 12-year period.”

Additionally, the SIB says that life expectancy has slightly increased compared to a decade ago.