“4.17 million children were born in the European Union in 2019, thus continuing the downward trend that started after 2008, when 4.68 million children had been born”. The negative trend in Europe’s fertility rates is emphasised by a survey published by Eurostat today. “The total fertility rate stopped at 1.53 births per woman in the EU in 2019 (latest available figures – editor’s note), slightly less than the recent peak of 2016 (1.57), but more than in 2001 (1.43)”. The highest total fertility rate since the start of a comparable time series occurred in 2008, then in 2010 and in 2016 (1.57), ranging between 1.51 and 1.57. In 2019, France (1.86 live births per woman) was the member state with the highest total fertility rate in the EU, followed by Romania (1.77), the Czech Republic, Ireland and Sweden (all of them at 1.71) and Denmark (1.70). “At the opposite end of the spectrum, the lowest fertility rates were found to be those of Malta (1.14 births per woman), Spain (1.23), Italy (1.27), Cyprus (1.33), Greece and Luxembourg (both at 1.34)”.