First time mothers in Romania, among the youngest in the EU

In 2017, the mean age of mothers at the first childbirth stood at 26.5 in Romania, the second lowest in the European Union, according to recently published data by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

The lowest mean age for the first childbirth was recorded in Bulgaria (26.1 years). Latvia came third (26.9), followed by Slovakia (27.1), Poland (27.3), Lithuania (27.5) and Estonia (27.7).

At the opposite end, the mother’s age for the first childbirth was above 30 in Italy (31.1 years), Spain (30.9), Luxembourg (30.8), Greece (30.4) and Ireland (30.3).

On average in the EU, women who gave birth to their first child in 2017 were 29.1 years old. Over five years, the mean age has gradually increased from 28.7 in 2013 to 29.1 in 2017.

At the same time, Romania recorded the highest shares of births of a first child to teenage mothers (less than 20 years old): 13.9% of total births of first child in 2017.

In Bulgaria, 13.8% of total births of first child in 2017 were to teenage mothers, ahead of Hungary (9.9%), Slovakia (9.5%), Latvia (6.7%) and the United Kingdom (6.1%). The lowest shares were recorded in Denmark (1.5%), Italy and Slovenia (both 1.6%), the Netherlands (1.7%), Luxembourg (1.9%) and Sweden (2.0%).

Almost 5% of births of first children in the EU in 2017 were to women aged less than 20 (teenage mothers) and around 3% to women aged 40 and over.

The highest proportions of births of a first child to women aged 40 and over were registered in Spain (7.4% of total births of first child in 2017) and Italy (7.3%), followed by Greece (5.6%), Luxembourg (4.9%), Ireland (4.8%) and Portugal (4.3%).

In 2017, 5.075 million babies were born in the EU, compared with 5.148 million in 2016. The total fertility rate in the EU stood at 1.59 births per woman in 2017, compared with 1.60 in 2016. Among the 5.075 million births, 45% concerned a first child, 36% a second child and 19% a third or subsequent child.

Across the EU Member States, the highest share of mothers giving birth to their fourth or subsequent children was recorded in Finland (10.3%), followed by Ireland (9.0%), the United Kingdom (8.8%), Slovakia (8.1%), and Belgium (8.0%).

(Photo: Pixabay)