Greece faces 44% drop in births over two decades

Births in Greece have fallen from an average of 117,600 per year in 2008‑2009 to about 65,000 in 2025‑2026, a decline of roughly 44%. The average age of mothers at first birth has risen from 30.2‑30.3 years to 32.2‑32.3 years. The total fertility rate dropped from around 1.5 children per woman to about 1.24 per 1,000 women. Women aged 25‑44 decreased by 480,000 individuals (‑28%) between the two periods, reducing the pool of women of reproductive age. The share of births to mothers under 30 fell from 43% to 30%, while births to women 40 and older rose from 4.5% to 11.2%. One in seven births now involves a foreign‑born mother; 10% of births use assisted reproduction and 63% are delivered by caesarean section. Eurostat projects Greece’s total population to shrink from roughly 10.37 million today to about 7.24 million by 2100, a drop of almost 30%, driven by the gap between births and deaths and insufficient migration to offset the loss. Demographers cite lower fertility, delayed child‑bearing, the out‑migration of younger cohorts, and broader European trends as key drivers of the crisis.