Slight Decline in Births in Austria

The number of births in Austria has continued to decline. This is shown by the study "Families in Numbers" published by the Federal Chancellery on Monday. According to this, there were only 77,238 births in 2024, which is about 370 fewer than in 2023. For comparison: in 2020, there were still over 83,000 births. The historical low was in 2001 with 75,458 births.

Decrease in Fertility Rate

Nevertheless, the trend has been generally declining in recent years. Accordingly, the fertility rate has also continued to decrease. While it was 1.44 in 2023, it fell to 1.31 in the previous year. The rate for Austrian women is significantly lower at 1.22 compared to mothers with foreign citizenship at 1.58.

In contrast, the age of mothers at the birth of their first child is historically high at 30.4 years. The lowest since the beginning of the statistics was 22.8 years in 1973. Meanwhile, the proportion of women who have their first child after 40 remains relatively low at 3.6 percent. Of course, at the beginning of the millennium, it was significantly lower at 0.8 percent.

Parents Mostly Born Here

The origin of the parents varies depending on the federal state. Across the entire country, 64 percent of mothers and 62 percent of fathers of children born here last year were born in Austria. However, while this is the case in about three-quarters of cases in Burgenland and Carinthia, it is a minority in Vienna. Only 42 percent of mothers and 39 percent of fathers of children born in 2024 were also born in Austria. Vorarlberg has the second-highest proportion of parents born abroad, with about one-third.

The number of non-marital children has recently decreased significantly to 38.1 percent. In 2020, it was still over 41 percent. The number of marriages or registered partnerships remained stable in the previous year, with more than 47,700 combined. The median age at first marriage was around 31.5 years for women and about 33.5 years for men.

In Austria, there were a total of 696,100 couples with children under 15 years living in the household in 2024. Of these, 55,100 were step/blended families, in which at least one child from a previous relationship was brought into the household.

Around 190,000 children and adolescents under 18 were raised by single parents. The proportion of children living with mothers (a good 167,000) is noticeably higher.

What the Family Minister Says

Family Minister Claudia Plakolm (ÖVP) commented on the birth trends, stating that they are similar to those in the entire Western world. Politics can set the framework, but it is the decision of each couple whether they want children or not. It is a societal task to create a family-friendly environment where people are happy to start a family.

In addition to family benefits such as childcare allowance, the minister mentioned the compatibility of family and work as an important point, which is why efforts are being made to expand childcare.

(APA/Red)

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