Europe: almost half as many babies are born as in 1959
12.2 million births then and 6.34 million in 2023. Every year since 2015 more people have died in Europe than were born. The UN medium variant expects 4.94 million births here in 2100.
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Europe as the UN counts it: 50 countries and territories from Portugal to Russia. Almost half as many babies are born a year as at the late-1950s peak, though there are more people.
Solid line: births a year, UN estimates; dashed: the UN medium variant to 2100. The dot is the 1959 peak.
- Europe (UN): births a year million
1959: 12.22; 2023: 6.34; 2100: 4.94
Sum of births of 50 European countries and territories in World Population Prospects 2024: estimates to 2023, the medium variant after. Deaths above births: the change in population over a year minus net migration, same data.
Without Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova the picture holds: a peak in 1964, 43% fewer births by 2023. A projection is a calculation under assumptions about births and migration, not a certainty.
A question for this picture
And the mothers of future children? The women aged 20–39 of 2045 can no longer be added.