Data extracted on 19 February 2026
Planned article update: March 2027
Highlights
3.55 million babies were born in the EU in 2024.
The total fertility rate stood at 1.34 live births per woman in the EU in 2024, ranging from 1.01 in Malta to 1.72 in Bulgaria.
29.9 years was the average age of women at the birth of their first child in the EU in 2024, ranging from 26.9 in Bulgaria to 31.9 in Italy.
- Source: Eurostat (demo_find)
This article looks at the developments observed for a range of indicators concerning the number of births and fertility across the European Union (EU). Fertility rates have steadily declined from the mid-1960s through to the turn of the century in the EU countries. However, at the beginning of the 2000s, the total fertility rate in the EU showed signs of rising again. This development stopped in 2010 (when the total fertility rate in the EU was 1.57) and a subsequent decline was observed to a relative low in 2013 (1.51), followed by a slight increase in 2016 (1.57) and another decrease until 2020 (1.51). After an increase in 2021 (1.53), the total fertility rate decreases again in the following years reaching its historic low in 2024 with 1.34 live births per woman.
Almost 2 times fewer children born in the EU in 2024 than 6 decades ago
In 2024, 3.55 million children were born in the EU, corresponding to a crude birth rate (the number of live births per 1 000 persons) of 7.9. For comparison, the EU crude birth rate was 10.5 in 2000, 12.8 in 1985 and 16.4 in 1970.
During the period 1961-2024, the highest annual total for the number of live births in the EU was recorded in 1964, at 6.8 million children. From this comparative high until the beginning of the 21st century, the number of live births in the EU declined at a relatively steady pace, reaching a low of 4.36 million in 2002 (see Figure 1). This was followed by a modest recovery in the number of live births, with a high of 4.68 million children born in the EU in 2008, which in turn was followed by a general downward trend, although with modest increases in 2014 and 2016. Live births in the EU firstly declined to 4.07 (in 2020), then slightly increased to 4.09 million in 2021 and since 2022 again started decreasing. In 2024, total number of live births in the EU was 3.55 million children.
1.34 live births per woman in the EU in 2024
In recent decades, Europeans have generally been having fewer children, and this pattern partly explains the slowdown in the EU's population growth (see Population and population change statistics). The most widely used indicator of fertility is the total fertility rate: this is the mean number of children that would be born alive to a woman during her lifetime if she were to pass through her childbearing years conforming to the age-specific fertility rates of a given year. A total fertility rate of around 2.1 live births per woman is considered to be the replacement level in developed countries: in other words, the average number of live births per woman required to keep the population size constant in the absence of migration. A total fertility rate below 1.3 live births per woman is often referred to as 'lowest-low fertility'. The total fertility rate is comparable across countries since it takes into account changes in the size and structure of the population.
In 2024, the total fertility rate in the EU was 1.34 live births per woman (Figure 2). The EU's total fertility rate rose from a low of 1.43 in 2001 and 2002 to a relative high of 1.57 in 2008 and 2010; this was subsequently followed by a slight decrease to 1.51 in 2013 before modest rebounds until 2017, when the indicator started to decrease again. The EU fertility rate declined to 1.51 (in 2020) live births per woman, slightly increased to 1.53 (in 2021) and since 2022 has been decreasing again, from 1.46 (in 2022) to a new low of 1.34 in 2024 .
Bulgaria with the highest and Malta with the lowest total fertility rate in 2024
Among the EU countries, Bulgaria reported the highest total fertility rate in 2024, with 1.72 live births per woman, followed by France (1.61) and Slovenia (1.52). By contrast, the lowest total fertility rates in 2024 were recorded in Malta (1.01 live births per woman), Spain (1.10) and Lithuania (1.11).
Between 2023 and 2024, the total fertility rate decreased in 24 EU countries, remained stable in 2 (Luxembourg and the Netherlands) and increased only in Slovenia (from 1.51 in 2023 to 1.52 in 2024), while the highest decrease was recorded in Romania (from 1.54 in 2023 to 1.39 in 2024).
In the majority of the EU countries, the total fertility rate declined considerably between 1980 and 2000-2003: by 2000, values had fallen below 1.30 in Bulgaria, Czechia, Greece, Spain, Italy, Latvia and Slovenia. After reaching a low point between 2000 and 2003, the total fertility rate increased in many of the EU countries and by 2024, all of them except Estonia, Greece, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland and Finland reported total fertility rates that were above 1.30 (Table 1).
In the past 50 years, total fertility rates in the EU countries have, in general, been converging: in 1970, the disparity between the highest rates (recorded in Ireland) and the lowest rates (recorded in Finland) was around 2.0 live births per woman. By 1990 this difference – between a high in Cyprus and a low in Italy – had decreased to 1.1 live births per woman. By 2010, the difference had fallen again to 0.8 live births per woman with a high in Ireland and a low in Hungary. By 2024 the difference narrowed to 0.7 when the highest total fertility rate was recorded in Bulgaria and the lowest rate was recorded in Malta.
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Source: Eurostat (demo_find)
Women in the EU are becoming mothers later in life
Figure 3 shows that the mean age of women at childbirth in the EU continued to rise between 2001 and 2024, from an average of 29.0 to 31.3 years. The same trend is observed for the mean age of women at birth of the first child during the same period, from a value of 28.8 in the EU in 2013 (the first year for which the EU value is available) to a value of 29.9 in 2024.
Indeed, women in the EU appear to be having fewer children while they are young, and more children later in life (see, for example, data for 2024 in Figure 4 at ages higher than 30 years). While the fertility rates for women aged less than 30 years in the EU have declined since 2004, those for women aged 30 years and over have risen. In 2004, the fertility rate for women aged 25-29 years was the highest among all age groups. In 2024, the fertility rate for women aged 30-34 years became the highest. The fertility rate for women aged 35 years and over is also on the increase.
Total fertility rate and age of women at birth of first child
Figure 5 shows a plot of the total fertility rate against the mean age of women at the birth of their first child in 2024. Some of the countries with the highest total fertility rates also had a relatively high mean age of women at the birth of their first child.
Four different groups of EU countries can be broadly identified based on their position with respect to the EU averages (as identified by the quadrants defined by the yellow lines).
The first group (top right quadrant) is composed of Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden where both the total fertility rate and the mean age of women at the birth of their first child were above the EU average.
A second group (bottom left quadrant) is made up of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Poland: both their total fertility rates and mean ages of women at the birth of their first child were below the EU averages.
A third group (bottom right quadrant) composed of Greece, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, Austria and Finland recorded a higher than average mean age of women at the birth of their first child but a lower total fertility rate than the EU average.
The final group (top left quadrant) was composed of Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, France, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia; in each of these, the total fertility rate was higher than the EU average but the mean age of women at the birth of their first child was below the EU average.
In 2024, women in the EU who gave birth to their first child were on average aged 29.9 years
As can be seen in Map 1, on average in the EU, women who gave birth to their first child in 2024 were aged 29.9 years. The lowest mean age at birth of a first child can be found in Bulgaria (26.9 years) and Romania (27.2 years); the highest values can be observed in Italy (31.9 years) and Luxembourg (31.6 years).
Source: Eurostat (demo_find)
Almost half of children born in the EU in 2024 were born to first-time mothers
Close to half (46.6%) of the children born in the EU in 2024 were first-born children, with this share exceeding half in Portugal (54.6%), Luxembourg and Malta (both 53.9%), and 50.7% in Spain (see Figure 6). By contrast, the lowest shares of first-born children were recorded in Latvia (39.9%) and Slovakia and Estonia (both 41.2%).
In the EU, more than one-third (35.1%) of all live births in 2024 were of second-born children, around one-eighth (12.1%) were third-born children, and the remaining 6.2% were of fourth-born or subsequent children. Across the EU countries, the highest share of the total number of live births of fourth or subsequent children was recorded in Slovakia (9.9%), followed by Finland (9.4%) and Romania (9.2%).
The foreign-born mothers shown in the Figure 7 concern mothers who were not born in the reporting country, but in another EU country or outside the EU. 68% of the children born in Luxembourg in 2024 were from foreign-born mothers. The second highest share of births to foreign-born mothers was in Cyprus with 42%. In Malta, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Germany at least one-third of children were born to foreign-born mothers and two-thirds were born to native-born mothers. Conversely, 97% of live births in 2024 in Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia were born to native-born mothers. Compared with 2013 (the first year for which data are available for all EU countries), most of the EU countries in 2024 showed an increase in live births from foreign-born mothers. Malta recorded the highest increase in live births from foreign-born mothers (27 percentage points (pp) from 11% in 2013 to 38% in 2024) followed by Portugal (17 pp from 16% to 33%), and Spain, Slovenia, Cyprus and Czechia for which increases of around 9 pp were recorded.
Source data for tables and graphs
Data sources
Eurostat compiles information for a large range of demographic data, including statistics on the number of live births by sex (of newborns), by the mother's age, citizenship, country of birth, level of educational attainment and marital status. Fertility statistics are also collected in relation to the number of births and by birth order (in other words, the rank of the child – first, second, third child and so on). A series of fertility indicators is produced from the information collected, including the total fertility rate and fertility rates according to the mother's age, the mean age of women at childbirth, the crude birth rate or the relative proportion of births outside of marriage.
Context
The EU's social policy does not include a specific strand for family issues. Policymaking in this area remains the exclusive responsibility of EU Member States, reflecting different family structures, historical developments, social attitudes and traditions from one Member State to another. Nevertheless, policymakers may well evaluate fertility statistics as a background for family policymaking. Furthermore, a number of common demographic themes are apparent across the whole of the EU, such as a reduction in the average number of children being born per woman and the increasing mean age of mothers at childbirth.
The EU has been going through a period of demographic and societal change. On 17 January 2023, the European Commission published the Staff Working Document on The impact of demographic change – in a changing environment which provides further analysis of the demographic changes. In response to the June 2023 European Council conclusions, on 11 October 2023, the Commission put forward a toolbox to support Member States in addressing demographic challenges and their impact on Europe's competitive edge. More information on the work of the European Commission to tackle the impact of demographic change in Europe can be found in the European Commission dedicated pages.
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