EU fertility rate at record 1.34: Eurostat maps births across regions

Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union, published regional data on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, showing how births are spread across Europe after the EU's total fertility rate fell to a record low of 1.34 live births per woman in 2024. That is the lowest level since the series began in 2001, down from 1.38 in 2023. The new release maps fertility across 1,165 small regions and finds wide differences inside countries as well as between them, with the highest rates in parts of Bulgaria and France and the lowest national rate in Malta.

The total fertility rate is the average number of children a woman would have over her lifetime if the birth rates of a given year stayed the same. A rate of about 2.1 is called "replacement level", because at that rate a population replaces itself from one generation to the next without migration. The EU has been below that mark for at least two decades, and in 2024 it fell further.

The regional figures add an important detail. More than six in ten regions are above the EU average, yet the average itself is at a record low. This can happen when some of the most populous areas have very low fertility and pull the average down, while many smaller regions have somewhat higher rates. In practice, it means family patterns differ sharply from one part of a country to another, often between big cities and smaller towns.

For families, a falling birth rate is the sum of many private choices. Couples are having children later, having fewer of them, or deciding not to have any. The reasons commonly discussed by governments and researchers include the cost of housing and childcare, job insecurity, the time it takes to finish education and settle into work, and the difficulty of balancing two careers with raising children. Many European governments offer some mix of child benefits, paid parental leave and subsidised childcare to make that balance easier. The large gap between Bulgaria or France and Malta or Spain shows that the outcome is not the same everywhere, even within one economic union.

Europe is not alone. Final data from the United States released on October 21, 2026 put its general fertility rate at a record low of 53.2 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 in 2025. For Indian readers, the questions behind these numbers, such as the cost of raising children, women's paid work and support for working parents, are also part of the debate at home.

EU fertility at a glance (2024) Measure | Figure EU total fertility rate | 1.34 (2023: 1.38) Highest country | Bulgaria, 1.72 Lowest country | Malta, 1.01 Regions above EU average | 714 of 1,165 Births in the EU | about 3.55 million

Short-term: The regional data give national and local governments a sharper picture of where births are falling fastest, which helps in planning schools, maternity services and childcare places.

Long-term: Fewer births mean fewer young workers in the future and a larger share of older people. That affects pensions, health care and labour shortages, and it is likely to keep family policy and migration high on Europe's political agenda.

Who is affected: Families and young couples in Europe, who face the costs and choices behind these numbers; governments planning services; employers facing smaller future workforces; and the Indian diaspora in Europe, which is part of these communities.

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