The number of newborns in the EU has never dropped so sharply.
The latest Eurostat data point to a 5.4% fall in new babies, only 3.67 million in 2023, the deepest decline on record. In other words, the EU had almost two times fewer newborns than six decades ago.
Migrants’ children however seem to be slowing down the continent’s demographic decline by going against the general trend.
The rate of babies born to a foreign mother between 2014 and 2023 grew across most EU member states, by an average of 5.3%.
Poland reports highest growth in migrant newborns
Over the 2014-2023 period, the number of newborns to migrant mothers grew by 645% in Poland, with a steep jump in the wake of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Poland has the second-highest Ukrainian refugee population in Europe.
Rates rose sharply also in Malta, +159%, Estonia, +92%, and Portugal, +91%.
The only EU members where migrant children rates fell were Croatia, -41.3%, Greece, -33.7%, Italy, -27.5%, Latvia, 19.1% and France with -0.5%.
Migrant newborns outnumber locals in Luxembourg
Nearly a quarter of newborn babies (23%) in the EU in 2023 had a foreign mother.
In Luxembourg, they significantly outnumbered children born to two Luxembourgish parents (67% vs 33%).
Percentages of at least 30% were also reported in Germany, Spain, Austria, Sweden and Belgium, among others, while in France, newborns to foreign mothers were 25%.
On the other side of the spectrum, the lowest rates – all below 5% – were recorded by Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.
Which EU countries have the highest and lowest fertility rates?
In terms of new births overall – migrants and locals – the fertility rate in the EU dropped to 1.48 live births per mother.
The EU’s highest fertility rate was in Bulgaria (1.81 live births per woman), followed by France (1.66) and Hungary (1.55).
The lowest fertility rates were seen in Malta (1.06 births per woman), Spain (1.12) and Lithuania (1.18).
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