Fewer marriages, emigration behind 50 percent drop in Syrian birth rate

The annual rate at which Syrians are being born has dropped by more than half since the conflict erupted in 2011, AFP reported, citing a Tuesday Al-Watan newspaper report.

Damascus University's Dean of Medicine Salah al-Sheikha told Al-Watan Syrians were giving birth at a rate of 500,000 per year before the war.

This year, the number of recorded births has dropped to just 200,000, medical sources told Al-Watan, a government associated newspaper.

"The reluctance of young people to get married, in addition to emigration ... has had the biggest effect on the number of births dropping to this low level," the sources told Al-Watan.

At least four million Syrians have fled abroad in an attempt to escape ongoing violence in the country.