Germany’s Fertility Rate Hits 33-Year High

On Monday, the German Federal Statistical Office released its official report, stating that German women currently aged between 15 and 49 have given birth to an average of 1.5 live babies during their lifetimes, up from 1.43 last year.

The EU’s most populous country has reversed demographic trends going back decades, while the rise in fertility is almost exclusively down to immigrant women, RT reported. While the fertility rates for German citizens have stayed almost the same as last year – with 1.43 lifetime births versus 1.42, the rate for foreign citizens who gave birth in Germany climbed. Foreign women living in Germany gave birth to 1.95 babies, up from 1.86 last year. The figures can be largely explained by the spike in immigrant arrivals over the past half-decade.

The trend is set to grow yet further, as more of the 900,000 people who applied for asylum last year settle, and begin to give birth in Germany.