{"version":1,"asset_type":"statistical_series","data_type":"time_series","slug":"europe-fertility-rate-by-country","url":"https://apiardata.com/statistics/europe-fertility-rate-by-country","html_url":"https://apiardata.com/statistics/europe-fertility-rate-by-country/","title":"Fertility Rate in Europe by Country (2024)","description":"Total fertility rate for 37 European countries in 2024: 1.75 in Montenegro at the top, 1.01 in Malta at the bottom, and not one country at the 2.1 replacement level. Eurostat data.","domain":"demo","category":"Demographics","keywords":["Demographics","Fertility","Europe","Eurostat","2024"],"publisher":"Eurostat","frequency":"Annual","temporal_coverage":"2005/2024","unit":"children per woman","last_updated":"2026-07-25","last_updated_text":"25 July 2026","data_as_of":"2024","variable_measured":"Total fertility rate","license":"https://apiardata.com/data-license","is_accessible_for_free":true,"sources":[{"name":"Eurostat","url":"https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/DEMO_FIND/default/table"}],"meta":[{"label":"Frequency","value":"Annual"},{"label":"Reference year","value":"2024"},{"label":"Coverage","value":"2005–2024"},{"label":"Countries","value":"37"},{"label":"Last updated","value":"25 July 2026"}],"kpis":[{"label":"Average of the panel (2024)","value":"1.38","unit":"children per woman","trend":{"direction":"down","value":"-0.04 vs 2023"}},{"label":"Highest","value":"1.75","unit":"Montenegro"},{"label":"Lowest","value":"1.01","unit":"Malta"},{"label":"Countries ranked","value":"37","unit":"with a published figure"}],"series":[{"key":"value","label":"Average total fertility rate"}],"observation_count":20,"observations":[{"period":"2005","value":1.52},{"period":"2006","value":1.54},{"period":"2007","value":1.56},{"period":"2008","value":1.61},{"period":"2009","value":1.63},{"period":"2010","value":1.61},{"period":"2011","value":1.57},{"period":"2012","value":1.57},{"period":"2013","value":1.54},{"period":"2014","value":1.56},{"period":"2015","value":1.56},{"period":"2016","value":1.58},{"period":"2017","value":1.56},{"period":"2018","value":1.55},{"period":"2019","value":1.54},{"period":"2020","value":1.51},{"period":"2021","value":1.55},{"period":"2022","value":1.47},{"period":"2023","value":1.42},{"period":"2024","value":1.38}],"table":{"columns":[{"key":"rank","label":"#"},{"key":"country","label":"Country"},{"key":"value","label":"children per woman"},{"key":"yoyChange","label":"Change vs 2023"}],"rows":[{"rank":"1","country":"Montenegro","value":"1.75","yoyChange":"-0.01"},{"rank":"2","country":"Bulgaria","value":"1.72","yoyChange":"-0.09"},{"rank":"3","country":"Georgia","value":"1.69","yoyChange":"-0.02"},{"rank":"4","country":"Albania","value":"1.64","yoyChange":"n/a"},{"rank":"5","country":"Serbia","value":"1.64","yoyChange":"+0.02"},{"rank":"6","country":"France","value":"1.61","yoyChange":"-0.05"},{"rank":"7","country":"Iceland","value":"1.56","yoyChange":"+0.01"},{"rank":"8","country":"Slovenia","value":"1.52","yoyChange":"+0.01"},{"rank":"9","country":"Turkey","value":"1.48","yoyChange":"-0.03"},{"rank":"10","country":"Denmark","value":"1.47","yoyChange":"-0.03"},{"rank":"11","country":"Ireland","value":"1.47","yoyChange":"-0.03"},{"rank":"12","country":"Croatia","value":"1.46","yoyChange":"-0.01"},{"rank":"13","country":"Slovakia","value":"1.46","yoyChange":"-0.03"},{"rank":"14","country":"Norway","value":"1.45","yoyChange":"+0.05"},{"rank":"15","country":"Belgium","value":"1.44","yoyChange":"-0.03"},{"rank":"16","country":"North Macedonia","value":"1.44","yoyChange":"-0.05"},{"rank":"17","country":"Netherlands","value":"1.43","yoyChange":"unchanged"},{"rank":"18","country":"Sweden","value":"1.43","yoyChange":"-0.02"},{"rank":"19","country":"Hungary","value":"1.41","yoyChange":"-0.14"},{"rank":"20","country":"Portugal","value":"1.41","yoyChange":"-0.04"},{"rank":"21","country":"Romania","value":"1.39","yoyChange":"-0.15"},{"rank":"22","country":"Cyprus","value":"1.38","yoyChange":"-0.02"},{"rank":"23","country":"Liechtenstein","value":"1.37","yoyChange":"-0.08"},{"rank":"24","country":"Czechia","value":"1.36","yoyChange":"-0.10"},{"rank":"25","country":"Germany","value":"1.36","yoyChange":"-0.03"},{"rank":"26","country":"Austria","value":"1.31","yoyChange":"-0.01"},{"rank":"27","country":"Switzerland","value":"1.29","yoyChange":"-0.04"},{"rank":"28","country":"Finland","value":"1.25","yoyChange":"-0.01"},{"rank":"29","country":"Luxembourg","value":"1.25","yoyChange":"unchanged"},{"rank":"30","country":"Greece","value":"1.24","yoyChange":"-0.02"},{"rank":"31","country":"Latvia","value":"1.24","yoyChange":"-0.10"},{"rank":"32","country":"Estonia","value":"1.18","yoyChange":"-0.13"},{"rank":"33","country":"Italy","value":"1.18","yoyChange":"-0.03"},{"rank":"34","country":"Poland","value":"1.14","yoyChange":"-0.06"},{"rank":"35","country":"Lithuania","value":"1.11","yoyChange":"-0.07"},{"rank":"36","country":"Spain","value":"1.10","yoyChange":"-0.02"},{"rank":"37","country":"Malta","value":"1.01","yoyChange":"-0.05"}]},"qa":[{"question":"Which European country has the highest fertility rate?","answer":"Montenegro, at 1.75 children per woman in 2024, followed by Bulgaria, Georgia and Albania. The ordering is worth reading carefully: the \"highest\" figure in Europe is still around a third below the 2.1 births per woman a population needs to replace itself without migration. No country in this ranking reaches replacement level."},{"question":"Which European country has the lowest fertility rate?","answer":"Malta, at 1.01. The bottom of the table is dominated by southern and eastern Europe — Malta, Spain, Lithuania and Poland all sit below the 1.41 median. Spain and Italy in particular combine late family formation with weak entry-level pay and expensive housing, a combination that pushes first births past the point where a second becomes likely."},{"question":"Why is the European fertility rate falling?","answer":"The panel average fell to 1.38 in 2024 from 1.42 a year earlier, continuing a decline that resumed after a brief pandemic-era pause. The proximate cause across most of the continent is postponement rather than childlessness: the mean age at first birth keeps rising, and births deferred into a woman's late thirties are less likely to be followed by a second or third. Cash transfers and parental-leave reforms have shown measurable but small effects on the timing of births; none of the large European pro-natalist programmes has moved a national rate back toward replacement."}]}