The EU's fertility rate has fallen to 1.38 live births per woman in 2023, a significant decline from 1.46 in 2022 and below the critical replacement level of 2.1. This marks the largest decrease since 1961, according to Eurostat. While births have been declining since the mid-1960s, the population still increased by 1.6 million to 449.2 million, largely due to migration, even with more deaths than births recorded. Growing labour shortages and an ageing population are complicated by rising first-child birth ages and a political climate increasingly hostile to immigration.
The fertility rate across the EU's 27 countries stood at 1.38 live births per woman, down from 1.46 in 2022 and well below the "replacement level" of 2.1.
Births have steadily declined in Europe since the mid-1960s, recording only modest occasional recoveries over the past 20 years, according to the EU statistical agency.
Despite registering more deaths than births, the EU's total population increased by 1.6 million to 449.2 million people in 2023, as a result of migration.
The mean age at which women have their first child continued to rise, standing at 29.8 years, up from 28.8 in 2013, Eurostat said.
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