Since the number of children born following multiple pregnancies has not yet been established for 2013, the institute estimates that almost 21,000 children were born in Slovenia last year.

"The experience from the past years shows that slightly over 3% of children are born following a multiple pregnancy (twins, triplets)," the institute wrote.

Since when births-related statistics were introduced, Slovenia had the fewest children born in 2003, namely only 17,160.

The number of newborns was then increasing annually until 2010 to 22,002 deliveries.

The first major drop was recorded in 2011 (-435), yet last year's drop was even bigger as the number of deliveries was below 21,000 for the first time since 2008.