About 4.09 million babies were born in the European Union in 2021, according to data published by Eurostat. This is 20,000 more children than in 2020.
This increase is the first increase in the number of births in the EU since 2016.
Although the lockdown measures introduced across Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic led to speculation that they would not lead to a sharp increase in births, in fact births fell in 2020 before rising again in 2021 in some countries.
This has led some scientists to believe that people simply waited for the initial shock of the pandemic to wear off to have children.
The fertility rate (the average number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime) also increased for the first time since 2016, with the EU average at 1.53 live births per woman, compared to 1 .50 in 2020.
The highest birth rate in Europe is in France – 1.84 live births per woman, and the lowest – in Malta – 1.13 live births per woman.
