Eurostat: Italian mothers remain the oldest in the EU with the first child at 31.9 years of age

In Italia people become mothers later than in the rest of Europe. According to Eurostat, the average age of women at the birth of their first child in EU countries in 2024 was 29.9 years, ranging from 26.9 in Bulgaria to 31.9 in Italia.

The total fertility rate in the 24 EU countries stood at 1.34 live births per woman in 2024. At the bottom of the league table was Malta, which had the lowest fertility rate at 1.01, followed by Spain at 1.10, Lithuania at 1.11, Poland at 1.14 and finally Italia at 1.18 (as already noted by Istat data). The highest rates were instead recorded in Bulgaria (1.72), France (1.61) and Slovenia (1.52).

All countries, the analysis points out, are therefore far from the 2.1 threshold, considered the number needed to keep the population constant in the absence of migration.

The gross birth rate, i.e. the number of live births per thousand inhabitants, also fell sharply. In 2024 it was 7.9, while it was 10.5 in 2000, 12.8 in 1985 and 16.4 in 1970: practically halved compared to five decades ago. At the same rate, the proportion of children of mothers born abroad is growing, reaching 24% of the total.