Society at a Glance 2024 - Country Notes: Germany

Spotlight on fertility trends

In 2022, 738 819 babies were born in Germany, corresponding to a total fertility rate (TFR) of 1.46 children per woman, which is slightly below the OECD average of 1.51.

Across the OECD on average, the TFR steadily declined from 1960 until 2002. There was a small a fertility rebound in the 2000s until 2008, upon which the TFR dropped to an all-time low of 1.5 in 2022. The trend in Germany is different as the TFR dropped rapidly in Germany from 1967 until 1975 but stabilised thereafter. Immediately after re‑unification the TFR declined – as the TFR in Eastern Germany dipped, but fertility increased in the mid‑1990s and again in the mid‑2010s until 2022.

Figure 1. In Germany total fertility rates have been close to the OECD average over the past decade

Number of children per woman aged 15 to 49, Germany and OECD average, 1960 to 2022

Note: Germany refers to both Eastern and Western Germany from 1960 onwards.

Source: Figure 1.1 in OECD (2024), Society at a Glance 2024, https://stat.link/vxdlnc.

Many factors affect fertility choices, including employment of both men and women, unemployment, financial support for families (e.g. paid parental leave and childcare supports) and housing costs (Figure 1.7, https://stat.link/8zu7m3 and Figure 1.14, https://stat.link/ois3k8). However other factors such as (financial) uncertainty as well as norms and attitudes also play a role. In many OECD countries, the desire to establish oneself in labour and housing markets have contributed to a delay in childbearing. In Germany, the mean age of mothers at childbirth rose from 28.8 in 2000 to 31.4 years in 2022, just above the OECD on average (Figure 1.5, https://stat.link/163n2d).

The fall in TFRs is related to women having fewer children and/or none at all. Childlessness has been on the rise across the OECD, but there is cross-national variation in timing and extent. In Germany there was a rise in permanent childlessness from 16% for women born in 1955 to 20% for women born in 1975. (Figure 1.3, https://stat.link/mvkw3b).

How does Germany compare?

Selection of indicators related to the chapter on fertility trends and other social indicators

Source: OECD (2024), Society at a Glance 2024, https://stat.link/vxdlnc.