Birth and fertility of the resident population

The number of births continues to decrease: in 2018, 439,747 children were registered in the General Register Office, over 18,000 less than the previous year and almost 140,000 less than 2008.

The persistent decline in the birthrate has an impact above all on the firstborn children, who decreased to 204,883, 79 thousand less than 2008.

The average number of children per woman still drops to 1.29; in 2010, the year of relative maximum of fertility, it was 1.46. The mean age at childbirth reaches 32, the one at the birth of first child reaches 31.2 in 2018, almost a year more than in 2010.