Press release No. 332 of 3 September 2019
WIESBADEN – In 2018, 787,500 babies were born in Germany. This was an increase of roughly 2,600 newborns on a year earlier. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that the average number of children born per woman in 2018 remained at the previous year’s level. The total fertility rate was 1.57 children per woman. In the new Länder (excluding Berlin), it amounted to 1.60 children per woman and was higher than in the former territory of the Federal Republic (excluding Berlin), where it stood at 1.58.
Particularly notable is the rising birth rate among women aged 40 years or over. Mothers aged 40 and over gave birth to roughly 42,800 babies in 2018. Although their fertility rate was still relatively low at 88 children per 1,000 women, it had nearly quadrupled compared with the 23 children per 1,000 women in 1990.
Basic data and long time series are available in tables Birth statistics (12612) in the GENESIS-Online database.