Costa Rica’s birth rate fell by 5 percent last year because of economic worries

The global economic crisis pulled down Costa Rica's birth rate by 5 percent in 2010, the Nation's Institute of Statistics and Census said.

Births in the Central American nation fell to 70,922 in 2010 from 75,000 in 2009, the institute said.

Local daily La Nacion quoted Olga Martha Araya, coordinator of the Vital Statistics Unit of the INEC, as saying that "in other countries the birth rate fell between 3 percent and 5 percent."

Original source: Xinhua