Portugal was the EU country with the lowest fertility rate in 2014 with just 1.23 babies per woman and recorded the biggest drop in births since 2001.
The data from Eurostat show that in 2014, 5.1 million babies were born in the 28 Member States compared to 5.0 million in 2001, an increase in the fertility rate from 1.46 to 1.58 in four years.
But the average was pulled down by a limp performance from Portugal with 1.23 babies per woman but raised by an athletic performance by the French who produced 2.01.
The keep the population stable, an average of 2.1 babies is needed per woman but this is before taking into account net migration from which Portugal is suffering badly with many of child bearing age heading to northern Europe to get a job.
France is the only state within Europe that is renewing its population with the Irish coming from behind to produce 1.94.
Sweden at 1.88 and the UK at 1.81 need to stiffen their resolve and insert more effort into this essential project but with net immigration boosting the UK’s population each year, there are fewer worries that there will be enough taxpayers to fund pensions, a problem that Portugal has yet to address.
The southern, poorer countries perform below expectations with Portugal (1.23), Greece (1.30), Cyprus (1.31), Spain and Poland (1.32) all needing to produce more children or import them.
One of the factors in Portugal is that women are leaving it later and later before starting a family, the average age at their first birth being 29.2 years, older than the EU average but still behind the Italians at 30.7 years.
Portugal’s government has started to import refugees which, if they stay, will help the population figures but with so many leaving the country, it is more than an uphill struggle to attract the young to this country, and to offer suitable conditions for those that remain, to start a family.
