Europe’s fertility Crisis started across in 2020: Which Countries are having the most and fewest Babies?

by

Servet Yanatma and Robert W.D. Gorter, MD, PhD.

01.12.2024

Live births have reached their lowest level in the EU.
Copyright Canva

In 2022, the number of live births in the European Union reached its lowest level since 1960, according to the latest available data.

That year, only 3.88 million babies were born in the EU, marking the first time the figure fell below 4 million.

The fertility rate also declined, nearing levels last seen two decades ago. The EU had one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, defined as the number of live births per woman.

But how fertility rates compare across different parts of Europe do and how has the fertility rate changed in Europe compared to the rest of the world?

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There has been a downward trend since 1960 in the number of children born in the EU. The lowest number was recorded in 2022 at 3.88 million.

In 1990, 5.1 million babies were born in the EU, marking the last year that births exceeded 5 million.

Fertility rates widely vary across Europe

In 2022, the fertility rate, which reflects the number of live births per woman, significantly varied in the EU, ranging from 1.79 in France to 1.08 in Malta according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU.

The average for the EU as a whole was 1.46. Including the broader European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the UK, and EU candidate countries, Georgia (1.83) and Moldova (1.81) reported higher rates than France.

While the highest fertility rate is observed in France, a Mediterranean country, other Mediterranean nations like Malta (1.08), Spain (1.16), Italy (1.24), Greece (1.32), and Cyprus (1.37) have notably lower rates.

Slightly higher fertility rates were recorded in countries like Romania (1.71), Turkey (1.63), the UK (1.56), Germany (1.46), and Finland (1.32).

The fertility rates in Europe are falling consequently since 2020.

It was 2.35 in 1970, its highest recorded level recorded before slumping to its lowest level in the late 1990s, bottoming out at 1.4 in 1998, according to World Bank data.

It then began to rise gradually, reaching a recent peak of 1.57 in 2016.

In 2022, the total fertility rate in the EU was 1.46 live births per woman, approaching the levels seen in the early 2000s, which were around 1.4.

The fertility rate has changed significantly in EU countries over the last 20 years, decreasing in 13 of the 27 EU Member States between 2002 and 2022.

Ireland and Finland reported the most significant decreases in fertility rates, each dropping by over 0.4 points, corresponding to declines of more than 20 percent.

Conversely, Czechia, Romania, and Bulgaria experienced the highest increases, each rising by more than 35 percent.

This rate remained stable in the EU, with only a 2 percent increase.

The EU has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world

In 2021, the EU reported a fertility rate of 1.52, the lowest after the East Asia and Pacific region, which had a rate of 1.49, according to World Bank data.

Western and Central Africa had the highest fertility rate at 4.98, followed by Eastern and Southern Africa at 4.35 and the Arab world at 3.14.

The global average fertility rate was 2.27, with North Africa and the Middle East reporting a higher rate of 2.63. North America’s rate of 1.64 was just above the OECD average of 1.59.

Since 1970, there has been a notable downward trend in fertility rates across almost all regions, although this decline has been significantly slower in Africa.

Fertility rates in all 41 European countries, including EU, EFTA, and candidate countries, are below the global average.

C:\Users\Robert\Downloads\Astrazine Rainforest Alliance.JPG

The Weed Killer Atrazine is the most commonly used Herbicide in the U.S. and probably in the World. Atrazine induces complete Feminization of Frogs and all other Animal Species, including Mammals (and Humans)

Bill Gates’ Rainforest Alliance uses the above logo with the frog to identify all products from (sub-) tropical countries like coffee and chocolate, nuts, avocados, etc. that have been laced with Atrazine.

The herbicide Atrazine is currently one of the most commonly applied pesticides in the world. As a result, atrazine is the most commonly detected pesticide contaminant of ground, surface, and drinking water. Atrazine is also a potent endocrine disruptor that is already active at low, ecologically relevant concentrations. Previous studies showed that atrazine adversely affects amphibian larval development. The present study demonstrates the reproductive consequences of Atrazine exposure in adult amphibians. Atrazine-exposed males were both demasculinized (chemically castrated) and completely feminized as adults. Ten percent of the exposed genetic males developed into functional females that copulated with unexposed males and produced viable eggs. Atrazine-exposed males suffered from depressed testosterone, decreased breeding gland size, demasculinized /feminized laryngeal development, and suppressed mating behavior, reduced spermatogenesis, and decreased fertility. These data are consistent with effects of Atrazine observed in other vertebrate classes and in humans. The present findings exemplify the role that Atrazine and other endocrine-disrupting herbicides and pesticides certainly play in global amphibian declines (1).

Demasculinization and feminization of male gonads by atrazine: consistent effects across all studied vertebrate classes

Atrazine is the most commonly detected pesticide contaminant of ground water, surface water, and precipitation. Atrazine is also an endocrine disruptor that, among other effects, alters male reproductive tissues when animals are exposed during development. Here, we apply the nine so-called “Hill criteria” (Strength, Consistency, Specificity, Temporality, Biological Gradient, Plausibility, Coherence, Experiment, and Analogy) for establishing cause-effect relationships to examine the evidence for atrazine as an endocrine disruptor that demasculinizes and feminizes the gonads of male vertebrates. We present experimental evidence that the effects of atrazine on male development are consistent across all vertebrate classes examined and we present a state of the art summary of the mechanisms by which atrazine acts as an endocrine disruptor to produce these effects. Atrazine demasculinizes male gonads producing testicular lesions associated with significantly reduced germ cell numbers in teleost fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals (including humans), and induces partial and/or complete feminization in fish, amphibians, and reptiles. These effects are strong (statistically significant), consistent across vertebrate classes, and specific. Reductions in androgen levels and the induction of estrogen synthesis – demonstrated in fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals – represent plausible and coherent mechanisms that explain these effects. Biological gradients are observed in several of the cited studies, although threshold doses and patterns vary among species. Given that the effects on the male gonads described in all of these experimental studies occurred only after atrazine exposure, temporality is also met here. Thus the case for Atrazine as an endocrine disruptor that demasculinizes and feminizes male vertebrates meets all nine of the “Hill criteria”. (2).

Demasculinization and feminization of male gonads by Atrazine: Consistent effects across all vertebrate classes

Atrazine demasculinizes male gonads producing testicular lesions associated with reduced germ cell numbers in teleost fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, and induces partial and/or complete feminization in fish, amphibians, and reptiles. And vertebrae, including humans.

Atrazine is the most commonly detected pesticide contaminant of ground water, surface water, and precipitation. Atrazine is also an endocrine disruptor that, among other effects, alters male reproductive tissues when animals are exposed during development. Here, we apply the nine so-called “Hill criteria” (Strength, Consistency, Specificity, Temporality, Biological Gradient, Plausibility, Coherence, Experiment, and Analogy) for establishing cause–effect relationships to examine the evidence for atrazine as an endocrine disruptor that demasculinizes and feminizes the gonads of male vertebrates. We present experimental evidence that the effects of Atrazine on male development are consistent across all vertebrate classes examined and we present a state of the art summary of the mechanisms by which atrazine acts as an endocrine disruptor to produce these effects.

Atrazine demasculinizes male gonads producing testicular lesions associated with reduced germ cell numbers in teleost fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, and induces partial and/or complete feminization in fish, amphibians, and reptiles. These effects are strong (statistically significant), consistent across vertebrate classes, and specific. Reductions in androgen levels and the induction of estrogen synthesis – demonstrated in fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals – represent plausible and coherent mechanisms that explain these effects. Biological gradients are observed in several of the cited studies, although threshold doses and patterns vary among species. Given that the effects on the male gonads described in all of these experimental studies occurred only after atrazine exposure, temporality is also met here. Thus, the case for Atrazine as an endocrine disruptor that demasculinizes and feminizes all male vertebrates and meets all nine of the “Hill criteria” (3).

C:\Users\Robert\Downloads\Bill Gates Forced Vacinations.jpg

In 2006, Bill Gates strongly supported the idea to depopulate the planet by all means

An additional way to depopulate the world is to cause infertility in human males and thus, using Atrazine, to sterilizing males this way without their consent or knowledge.

References:

(1) Atrazine induces complete feminization and chemical castration in male African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Mar 9; 107(10): 4612–4617. Published online 2010 Mar 1. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0909519107

(2) Demasculinization and feminization of male gonads by atrazine: consistent effects across all studied vertebrate classes. PMID: 21419222 PMCID: PMC4303243 DOI: 10.1016/j.jsbmb.2011.03.015

(3) Atrazine demasculinizes all male gonads producing testicular lesions associated with reduced germ cell numbers in teleost fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, and induces partial and/or complete feminization in fish, amphibians, and reptiles. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsbmb.2011.03.015

(4) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (.gov) https://archive.epa.gov › pdf › atrazine_summary

(5) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (.gov) https://archive.epa.gov › meetings › web › pdf

(6) The herbicide atrazine is one of the most commonly used, well studied, and controversial pesticides on the planet: https://www.farmlandbirds.net › files › ETC_2007

Further references to scientific studies in regards to Atrazine.

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