On average, women are 30.1 years old when they have their first child

fwomen always give birth to their first child later. This applies not only to first-time mothers in Germany, but also in many other countries in the European Union. In 2021 women were in the EU 29.7 years old on average at the birth of their first child. This was announced by the Federal Statistical Office on Tuesday based on data from the European statistical agency Eurostat.

According to this, the average age of women at the time of their first birth is continuously increasing: In 2013, the number was still 28.8 years. With an average age of 30.1 years, Germany is in the upper third of the EU countries.

Spain and Italy lead the data collection with 31.6 years each, followed by Luxembourg with 31.3 years and in Ireland women are on average 31.2 years old when they give birth to their first child. In the Eastern European EU countries, on the other hand, women give birth to their first child comparatively early, above all in Bulgaria with an average age of 26.5 years, in Romania at 27.1 years and in Slovakia at 27.3 years. However, the average age at the birth of the first child has also risen in these countries.

According to the statisticians, around 2.1 children have to be born for every woman in order for a country’s population not to shrink – immigration excluded. However, the “total fertility rate” in 2021 was well below this figure in all EU member states: at an average of 1.53 children per woman. In countries such as Spain (1.19) and Malta (1.13) the number is now stagnating after a long decline in the birth rate.

In contrast, the total fertility rate fell in Lithuania (1.36) and Poland (1.33). In France (1.84), the Netherlands (1.62), Belgium (1.60) and Italy (1.25), after years of falling birth rates, there was a slight increase in 2021 compared to the previous year. In Germany, too, the number of births has recently increased: while there were still 1.53 children per woman in 2020, the figure rose to 1.58 in 2021.