EU baby crisis as shocking statistics show birth rates at record low | World | News

Europe is facing a birth rate crisis as new figures show just 3.27 million infants were born across the 27 nations during 2023 – down more than 5% on the previous year and the biggest slump since records began in 1961.

Romania saw births plummet by a massive 13.9% and Poland and the Czech Republic suffered declines of 10.7% and 10% respectively.

Wealthier nations in the union also saw big drops, with France experiencing 6.6% fall and Germany not far behind with a 6.2% decline.

The birth rate figures come as immigration figures for the EU show 4.30 million arrived on the continent in 2022, with 2.7 million leaving during the same period.

Low birth rates can have a crippling effect on a country’s economy and on services in the future.

In the UK, US and China , he number of people having children has also fallen, with expert Professor Melinda Mills from Oxford University telling the Telegraph the trend was showing an “increase in education for women” and that more people were choosing to try and have children later in life.

She told the newspaper: “Women have got more education. They’ve entered into the labour market, and they find it hard to combine it with unpaid childcare. They often have to do a lot of childcare at home.”

“You are starting to have children when you are biologically less able to have children. You might be able to have one child but because you’re starting so late biologically, it’s really difficult to have more children.

“People are getting caught out on that where they’re just running out of time.”

In the UK, according the Office for National Statistics, fertility rate in England and Wales in 2023, was just 1.44 – the lowest on record and well below the the 2.1 figure needed for the replacement of population.

According to the MailOnline, Dr Natalia Bhattacharjee, of the University of Washington’s School of Medicine, said low birth rates have huge implications for the global balance of power.

In a paper published last year about the threat of underpopulation, she said: “The implications are immense.

“These future trends in fertility rates and live births will completely reconfigure the global economy and the international balance of power and will necessitate reorganising societies.

“Global recognition of the challenges around migration and global aid networks are going to be all the more critical when there is fierce competition for migrants to sustain economic growth and as sub-Saharan Africa’s baby boom continues.”