Overview
- Official data show record-low births in 2025 in Germany at about 654,300, with Austria also falling to roughly 75,700 and fertility near 1.29.
- Germany’s total fertility rate stands around 1.35 children per woman, well below the 2.1 needed to keep the population size steady without migration.
- Researchers link the decline to smaller cohorts born in the 1990s and later family formation, with the average age at first birth rising from 28.8 years in 2009 to 30.4 in 2024.
- Saxony shows one of the steepest drops, with births down from about 38,000 in 2016 to 24,700 in 2024 and its regional fertility sliding from 1.57 to 1.22, a shift that is also thinning maternity clinics and prompting cuts to childcare places.
- A BIÖG survey of 1,773 Saxon women reports a sharp change in attitudes, with fewer saying they always wanted children (63% in 2012 to 34% in 2024) and many citing current crises, money worries, or the lack of a suitable partner as reasons to delay parenthood.