Mean Age at First Birth in Europe by Country (2024)
Mean age of women at the birth of their first child across 36 European countries in 2024, from 31.9 years in Italy to 26.9 in Georgia. Eurostat data.
Data
| # | Country | years | Change vs 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italy | 31.9 | +0.1 |
| 2 | Luxembourg | 31.6 | +0.2 |
| 3 | Spain | 31.5 | unchanged |
| 4 | Liechtenstein | 31.3 | -0.2 |
| 5 | Switzerland | 31.3 | unchanged |
| 6 | Greece | 31.2 | +0.2 |
| 7 | Ireland | 31.2 | -0.4 |
| 8 | Netherlands | 30.5 | +0.1 |
| 9 | Denmark | 30.3 | +0.2 |
| 10 | Portugal | 30.3 | +0.1 |
| 11 | Norway | 30.2 | +0.1 |
| 12 | Sweden | 30.2 | +0.2 |
| 13 | Cyprus | 30.1 | +0.3 |
| 14 | Austria | 30 | +0.1 |
| 15 | Finland | 30 | unchanged |
| 16 | Germany | 29.9 | +0.1 |
| 17 | Malta | 29.9 | +0.1 |
| 18 | Belgium | 29.6 | +0.1 |
| 19 | Croatia | 29.5 | +0.2 |
| 20 | France | 29.3 | +0.2 |
| 21 | Slovenia | 29.1 | unchanged |
| 22 | Czechia | 29 | +0.1 |
| 23 | Hungary | 29 | +0.2 |
| 24 | Estonia | 28.9 | +0.2 |
| 25 | Iceland | 28.9 | +0.1 |
| 26 | Lithuania | 28.7 | +0.3 |
| 27 | Poland | 28.7 | +0.3 |
| 28 | Serbia | 28.5 | +0.1 |
| 29 | Latvia | 28.1 | +0.2 |
| 30 | North Macedonia | 27.8 | unchanged |
| 31 | Albania | 27.5 | n/a |
| 32 | Slovakia | 27.4 | +0.1 |
| 33 | Turkey | 27.3 | +0.2 |
| 34 | Romania | 27.2 | +0.1 |
| 35 | Bulgaria | 26.9 | unchanged |
| 36 | Georgia | 26.9 | +0.3 |
About this Dataset
The mean age at which European women have a first child ranges from 26.9 years in Georgia to 31.9 in Italy. The panel average is 29.6 years, +0.1 on 2023 and rising in a near-straight line across the whole charted window.
This is the most predictable series in European demography. It has gone one way, in almost every country, for thirty years — and it is the mechanism behind most of the continent's fertility decline.
The ranking maps closely onto the fertility ranking, inverted. Italy, Luxembourg and Spain postpone longest and record some of Europe's lowest fertility; Georgia, Bulgaria and Romania start earliest. What separates them is less contraceptive access or stated preference than the age at which young adults reach the stable income and secure housing that a first child is usually planned around. Countries where that milestone arrives in the late twenties show first births in the late twenties.
Every row is the figure published for 2024; no value is carried over from an adjacent year to fill a gap. Montenegro has not published a 2024 figure and is left out rather than carried forward from an older year. The chart tracks a fixed panel of 31 countries: those reporting in every year from 2012. The line therefore moves because the countries moved, not because the sample changed.
Country pages: Italy · Luxembourg · Spain · Liechtenstein · Switzerland · Greece · Ireland · Netherlands · Denmark · Portugal · Norway · Sweden · Cyprus · Austria · Finland · Germany · Malta · Belgium · Croatia · France · Slovenia · Czechia · Hungary · Estonia · Iceland · Lithuania · Poland · Serbia · Latvia · North Macedonia · Albania · Slovakia · Turkey · Romania · Bulgaria · Georgia