The number of babies born in the EU has hit a record low, according to official data which sheds light on the severity of the bloc’s demographic collapse.
Figures updated in November show that the number of new babies born across the 27 member states fell to 3,665,000 in 2023, which is the lowest on record since comparable data was first collected in 1961.
It is a 5.5 per cent fall from the total births recorded in 2022, and is the largest annual decline on record.
The number of new babies born last year in the bloc is also lower than the 4 million EU births which were forecast last year in long-term projections put forward by Eurostat.
In addition, Eurostat figures from this year showed that the average age women are giving birth to their first child is rising – up from 28.8 in 2013 to 30 in 2022.
The new data, which deepens fears of a continuing European baby bust, was compiled from the latest member state figures by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office. The fall in new births are cause for concern among demographic experts, with working age populations set to shrink, putting pressure on finances and pension and healthcare costs.
Guangyu Zhang, population affairs officer at the UN told the Financial Times that an increased cost of living could be one factor driving young people to have less children.
She said it was “possible that the perceived uncertainties — such as . . . job insecurity, rising costs of living and housing prices, and multiple global crises, including the Covid-19 pandemic, geopolitical tensions and climate change” could be having a negative impact on people choosing to have babies.
“Youngsters have greater difficulty than before to establish themselves in the labour market, in the housing market, and perhaps also in the dating market,” Willem Adema, senior economist at the OECD told the paper, adding: “That is one part of the story which is fairly clear.”
In some EU countries including Poland, Italy, Greece and Spain, births have tumbled by at least a quarter in the space of ten years.
This fall is mirrored in Ireland, with the number of children born here falling 10% between 2021 and 2022, a decrease of 6,092 births in just one year.
CSO figures showed an annual birth rate of 10.5 per 1,000 people in the population — compared to ten years ago, in 2012, when the annual birth rate was 15.6 per 1,000 people.
Meanwhile, the number of registered births in Q2 2024 decreased by 93, or 0.7%, to 13,354 births when compared with Q2 2023, CSO data shows, representing a further yearly fall.
There were 8,804 deaths registered in the same period, which was 55 more deaths (0.6%) when compared with the same period last year.
Official figures point to fertility rate woes, with the rate currently below the replacement level of 2.1 (the rate for Q2 of this year was 1.5).
The average age for first time mothers is now 33.2, and just under two in five (39.9%) of births registered were outside marriage or civil partnership in Q2 this year.