Share of births to teenage mothers in Europe 1980-2021

In 2021, the share of births to teenage mothers in the European Union was below two percent. In the European region as a whole, this share was just above three percent. The wider European region always recorded a higher rate of teenage births than the EU. Since the 1980s, births to adolescent mothers have declined nearly year-on-year in Europe.

Which countries had high teenage birth rates?

Nearly ten percent of live births in Bulgaria were attributed to mothers under below the age of 20 in 2021. This was the highest share of births to teenage mothers in the European Union, followed by Romania and Slovakia. On the other hand, less than 0.5 percent of births in Norway, the Netherlands, and Switzerland were to teenagers.

Mean age of women at first birth

Alongside the decline in teenage births, the average age of women giving birth in Europe has increased. In the mid-1980s, the average childbearing age in Europe stood around 26 years. By 2022, this had risen to over 30 years. This reflects societal changes in which women are waiting longer to have children, reasons which include better access to contraception and greater bodily autonomy. When looking at countries specifically, Ireland and Spain were among the countries with the highest average age of mothers in Europe.