Global Fertility
This chart shows the fertility rate by country in 2021 (in births per woman).
Statistica: Source World Bank
The average number of births per woman in the European Union was 1.53 in 2021, according to the latest available data by Eurostat. This figure has remained fairly stable over the last ten years (1.54 in 2011)
In an interview with Le Monde, demographer Gilles Pinson explains that the differences between northern and southern European countries can be partly explained by the level of family-friendly employment policies, which are far more limited in southern Europe.
Statistica Resource: Eurostat
Statistics spanning back to before the Second World War received a new record low in 2020. In England and Wales the female fertility rate fell to 1.58. That's 0.5 less than the previous low of 2001 and 1.5 less than the wartime fall to 1.73 in 1941.
Statistica Resource: Office for National Statistics
While in 2020, five out of the ten most populous countries in the world were located in Asia, the picture will look different in 2100, when five African countries – Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Egypt and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – will be among the world’s ten largest.