In 2021, 4.09 million babies were born in the EU. This was a slight increase compared with 2020, when 4.07 million babies were born. Overall, there has been a downward trend in the number of children born in the EU, which began in 2008 (4.68 million children). 

The total fertility rate stood at 1.53 live births per woman in the EU in 2021 and in 2019, the number was slightly higher than in 2020 at 1.50. 

This information comes from data on fertility published by Eurostat today. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article.
 

Source dataset: demo_find

The fertility rate in 2021 was slightly less than the peak seen in 2016 (1.57) but was an increase compared with 2001 (1.43). The highest total fertility rate since the start of the comparable time series was 1.57 in 2008, 2010 and 2016.  In the intervening years, it fluctuated between 1.51 and 1.57.

Fertility rate highest in France

In 2021, France had the highest total fertility in the EU (1.84 live births per woman), followed by Czechia (1.83), Romania (1.81) and Ireland (1.78).  
 

Source dataset: demo_find

 
In contrast, the lowest fertility rates were seen in Malta (1.13 births per woman), Spain (1.19) and Italy (1.25).