First-time mothers account for half of all births in Malta

More than half of the 4,476 births in Malta in 2016 were first-time mothers (2,381), Eurostat figures show.

33.6% of cases accounted for mothers having their second child, 9.1% were having their third child, while 4.1% were having their fourth child or more.

Out of the 2,381 births, 5.6% of the mothers were under the age of 20, 48.3% were between the age of 20 and 29, 44% were between the age of 30-39, and 2.1% were over the age of 40.

The average age of women who gave birth to their first child in that period was 29.1 years old, in line with the EU average.

On a European level, 5.148 million babies were born in the EU in 2016, up from the 5.103 million in 2015.

In 2016, Eurostat recorded that more than 80% (81.9%) of births in the EU were first and second children, while births of third children accounted for 12.2% of the total and fourth or subsequent children accounted for 5.9%.

Overall, the total fertility rate in the EU stood at 1.60 births per woman in 2016, with France (1.92 births per women) and Sweden (1.85 births per women) recording the highest rates.

Malta’s fertility rate stood at 1.37 births per women.

Around 5% of births of first children in the EU in the were to women aged less than 20 (teenage mothers) and around 3% of women aged 40 and over.

Among the 5.148 million births, nearly 1 in 5 (or almost 930 000) concerned a third or subsequent child.

The highest shares of births of a first child to teenage mothers (less than 20 years old) were recorded in Romania (14.2% of total births). On the other hand, the lowest shares were observed in Slovenia (1.6%).

In contrast, the highest proportions of births of a first child to women aged 40 and over were registered in Italy (7.2% of total births).