00:00Is Europe racing towards extinction?
00:07Europe's latest birth rates paint a bleak picture. The 2024 figures are some of the worst in decades,
00:14if not on record. In Germany, the fertility rate dropped to 1.35 children per woman,
00:20the lowest since 1994, which came off the back of a recession period.
00:26Researchers clearly said the only reason why the population didn't shrink last year was because
00:32of migration. Migration also slowed the population decline in Italy, but not enough to prevent a
00:38decrease. Italy's 2024 birth rate was 1.18, a record low. For every 1000 people, only 6 babies were
00:47born, while 11 people died. In neighboring France, which is traditionally one of Europe's most fertile
00:53nations, numbers are also dropping fast. Its fertility rate in 2024, at 1.62, was the lowest
01:01since the end of the First World War. Even the wealthy Northern European countries are suffering
01:07a decline in births, with Finland notably reporting the lowest fertility rate since 1776. Poland holds
01:15one of the bottom spots with only 1.1. England and Wales represent an exception with a tiny 0.6% growth,
01:24thanks to a surprising rise in babies born to fathers over 60 years old.
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