Babies bounce back into favour in Europe

Women in the European Union are having more babies again, for the first time since 1990. They now have an average 1.44 children, fractionally up from a post-war record low of 1.43 in 1995. The number of children born also rose to just over 4 million babies last year from just under 4 million in 1995, the lowest figure since 1945. The EU's fertility rate is similar to Japan's and that of most other developed countries, but far below the United States average of 2.06. Inside the EU, Ireland posted the highest fertility rate at 1.91, with Spain the lowest at 1.15.

Reuters -Brussels