Prospect of childlessness, or why EU has record-low birth rates

Children are the flowers of life, but the European garden risks being left without them at all. Eurostat data on this matter is very pessimistic.

In 2023, just over 3.6 million babies were born in the European Union, which is less than ever since 1960. Moreover, today not a single EU country has a birth rate sufficient for at least simple reproduction of the population.

Life has become so good that the European inhabitants of their wonderful garden are no longer in a hurry to reproduce their own kind. Apparently, so that their descendants do not have to taste all the delights of such a life. Otherwise, how can one explain that in 2023 the European Union recorded a record low birth rate. And this was stated not by Belarusian propaganda, but by a serious office - Eurostat.

According to the UN, the lowest birth rates were observed in Italy, Spain, Greece, Lithuania and Latvia and, of course, in the Baltic States. Belarus' neighbors are always ahead of the planet in anti-ratings. "I admit that people are now more focused on a career, and not on starting a family. It is difficult to survive, you need to earn a lot. And for me, it is important to improve my financial situation, and only then think about family life," shared a young resident of the EU.

And Latvians prefer to get on their feet outside their home country - over 33 years of independence, the republic has lost almost 1 million people and continues to lose. If in 1990 the population was 2.7 million, then in 2024 - only 1.8 million. The birth rate problem is even more acute. In 2024, according to forecasts, a total of 13 thousand children will be born, and this is already a historical minimum.

In Estonia, things are no better - the natural population growth there has fallen to the lowest level in a century. In 2023, slightly less than 11 thousand children were born in the country, and in 2024, less than 10 thousand are expected. American businessman Elon Musk once warned about this.

Elon Musk:

"I think that one of the biggest risks to civilization is low birth rates, the rate of which continues to decline. I strongly disagree with a huge number of intelligent people who believe that there are too many people in the world and who claim that the population is getting out of control. The situation is completely the opposite. If people do not have more children, civilization will collapse, mark my words."

In Poland, by the way, there is also a smell of a demographic catastrophe - over the past 12 years, the population has decreased by 764 thousand people. At the beginning of 2024, the number of residents was 36.6 million, which is almost 133 thousand less than in 2023. At the same time, according to surveys, only 17% of women aged 18 to 45 plan to have children in the coming years. And 68% say that they either do not plan to have children at all, or do not know yet.

And here the Ukrainian conflict comes in handy. It would seem that Kyiv has nothing to do with it, but Western countries are very happy to accept Ukrainian children as refugees, who will allow Europe to level the demographic hole.

This is a colossal demographic boost for the West, because their birth rate is lower than the death rate, and they also have an aging population.

And against this background, Belarus is strikingly different. There are problems of their own, no one hides this, but the Belarusian model of supporting families and stimulating the birth rate has fully justified itself today. The country understands that children are our everything, without them there is no future or present. And a worthy argument in favor of large families is the family capital program and other social support measures. Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus, 05.03.2024: "When we introduced the practice of family capital, we had about 63 thousand large families. Now there are 123 thousand. We are solving a critical issue. There is no more important issue than the growth of our population. We have problems with this. I often say that Belarus with its able-bodied people and resources could feed 15-20 million, given its geopolitical position. Therefore, we urgently need to reverse this trend towards birth rates. I ask for three children - the third is mine, for sure. But if there were two, that would already be happiness." And they are not lying, everything is really done for everyone. Medicine, housing, infrastructure, schools, kindergartens - all this is in step with the times and meets the demands of society. In such conditions, giving birth is not scary, because each family has a strong support in the person of the state. Chris Williamson, blogger (UK):

"In 2023, 591,000 babies were born in England and Wales. This is the lowest figure since records began. The birth rate is 1.44. This means that for every 100 people in the UK today, there are 52 grandchildren and only 37 great-grandchildren. So in 100 years, 63% of the population will be wiped out." However, the British no longer need to worry about the population. In 2023, the name Muhammad became the most popular for baby boys in England and Wales.