Ten EU member states currently have a fertility rate below 1.30.
Social PolicyEuropean Union
- Omissions
- The claim uses the present tense ('currently'), but the latest complete Eurostat fertility data refers to 2024, the most recent year available before the session date; the exact count of ten member states below 1.30 is corroborated by a single secondary source (Silver Data Lab) and not stated verbatim in the accessible Eurostat primary page.
- The Eurostat primary source confirms the metric and the 1.30 'lowest-low fertility' threshold (EU TFR 1.34 in 2024; lowest Malta 1.01, Spain 1.10, Lithuania 1.11) but does not, in the retrieved content, publish the explicit count of member states below 1.30.
- No source dated before the 2026-10-08 session explicitly enumerates all 27 member-state fertility rates to independently reproduce the count of ten.
- Sources
- PrimaryEurostat — Fertility statistics (Statistics Explained)The total fertility rate stood at 1.34 live births per woman in the EU in 2024, ranging from 1.01 in Malta to 1.72 in Bulgaria. [...] the lowest total fertility rates in 2024 were recorded in Malta (1.01 live births per woman), Spain (1.10) and Lithuania (1.11). A total fertility rate below 1.3 live births per woman is often referred to as 'lowest-low fertility'.
- SecondarySilver Data Lab — Fertility Rates in the EUThe EU fertility rate is 1.34 children per woman against a replacement level of 2.1. Not one of the 27 Member States reaches it, and ten sit below 1.3.