The average Greek woman becomes a mother later in life than her EU peers, and also gives birth to fewer children. This was confirmed by a Eurostat report on fertility throughout the European Union.
In terms of number of children, Greece ranks at the lower end of the spectrum, with 1.38 babies per woman, well below the EU average, standing at 1.6 children. Spain and Italy recorded the lowest fertility rates with 1.34 children per woman, followed by Portugal (1.36), Cyprus and Malta (1.37).
On the other hand, France leads the way in fertility, with 1.92 children per woman. Sweden ranks second with 1.85 births per woman, followed by Ireland (1.81) and Denmark (1.79) and Britain also (1.79).
As far as age is concerned, Greek women become mothers at the age of 30.3, slightly above the EU verage of 29 years of age. Greece ranks fourth, after Italy (where women first become mothers at 31), Spain (30.8) and Luxembourg. The country with the youngest mothers in Europe is Bulgaria, where women first give birth at an average age of 26, followed by Romania (26.4 years old), Latvia (26.8), Slovakia (27), Poland (27.2) and Lithuania (27.3).
The data also showed that 3.7 per cent of Greek women under 20 had children, compared to the EU average of 5 per cent.