EU fertility rate fell to 1.34 births per woman in 2024, Eurostat reports

The European Union's total fertility rate was 1.34 live births per woman in 2024, the lowest reading since Eurostat's series began in 2001. Eurostat published the figures on October 27, 2026; the measurement year is 2024.

Across the 1,165 EU NUTS level-3 regions with available data, 439 regions had rates below the EU average, 714 were above it and 12 matched it. The below-average group represented 37.7% of those regions, while the above-average group represented 61.3%.

The release says the EU rate stayed below the replacement benchmark of 2.10 over the preceding 20 years, ranging from 1.34 to 1.57. These are statistical indicators, not an individual prediction about family size.

First published in English as “Record-low fertility, with differences across EU regions” by Eurostat on the European Union's Europa website: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20261027-1 . © European Union, 2026. Adaptation/translation: KROV; © KROV, 2026. Source text: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . KROV is solely responsible for this adaptation and translation; Eurostat is not responsible. In any discrepancy, the original English text prevails.