The birth rate in the European Union (EU) fell, in 2022, to 1,46 births per woman, with Portugal recovering to 1,43 compared to the previous year's drop (1,35), Eurostat reports.
In addition to seeing the fertility rate rise, Portugal also recorded, in the reference year, the second highest percentage of first children (54,0%), after Luxembourg (54,4%) and above the EU average ( 46,3%), with the two lowest being registered in Latvia (37,9%) and Estonia (39,8%).
France, for its part, had the highest number of births per woman in 2022 (1,79), followed by Romania (1,71), Bulgaria (1,65) and the Czech Republic (1,64).
At the other end of the table, with the lowest fertility rate, are Malta (1,08 births per woman), Spain (1,16) and Italy (1,24).
With regard to the age at which the first child is born, the EU average was 29,7 years, with Portugal in sixth place with 30,4, in a range that varied between 26,2 years in Bulgaria and 31,7, XNUMX in Italy.
Almost one in four (24,0%) births in Portugal were, in 2022, babies born to foreign mothers, the second biggest increase among Member States, of 8 percentage points compared to the previous year, with the main increase, of 22 points to 33%, to be observed in Malta.
In the EU, the average number of children born to foreign mothers was 22%, with Luxembourg having the highest rate (66%).
According to data published today by the European statistical service, in 2022, 3,88 million babies were born in the EU, a decrease of 4,09 births compared to 2021, when it rose from 1,51 to 1,53.
Comments