The number of newborns in the EU has never dropped so much.
The latest Eurostat data indicates a 5.4% drop in new babies, only 3.67 million in 2023, the deepest drop ever recorded. In other words, the EU had almost half less newborns as six decades ago.
The children of migrants, however, seem to slow down the demographic decline of the continent by going against the general trend.
The rate of babies born of a foreign mother between 2014 and 2023 increased in most EU member states, on average by 5.3%.
Poland reports the greatest growth in newborns migrants
During the period 2014-2023, the number of newborns to migrant mothers increased by 645% in Poland, with a steep leap following the large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Poland has the second highest population of Ukrainian refugees in Europe.
The rates also increased to Malta, + 159%, Estonia, + 92%and Portugal, + 91%.
The only EU members where migrant children have dropped were Croatia, -41.3%, Greece, -33.7%, Italy, -27.5%, Latvia, 19.1%and France with -0.5%.
Migrant newborns are more numerous than the inhabitants of Luxembourg
Almost a quarter of newborns (23%) in the EU in 2023 had a foreign mother.
In Luxembourg, they were considerably more numerous than children born from two Luxembourg parents (67% against 33%).
Percentages of at least 30% were also reported in Germany, Spain, Austria, Sweden and Belgium, among others, while in France, newborns of foreign mothers were 25%.
On the other side of the spectrum, the low rates – all less than 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 inhabitants – The fertility rate in the EU fell to 1.48 living births per mother.
The highest fertility rate of the EU was in Bulgaria (1.81 living births per woman), followed by France (1.66) and Hungary (1.55).
The lowest fertility rates were observed in Malta (1.06 births per woman), Spain (1.12) and Lithuania (1.18).
