Source: European Parliament
The Commission notes that the Treaties do not confer competencies in ‘pro-birth policies’ to the EU level.
The Commission confirms that having children is a matter of individual choice and that it supports Member States in creating favourable social and economic conditions.
The Commission also confirms that its response to demographic change includes policies integrating family support, labour market reforms, education and skills development, and healthy ageing, alongside measures on talent attraction.
At all times, our efforts should also promote gender equality, non-discrimination, respect of fundamental rights and intergenerational fairness.
As stated in the Demography Toolbox[1], better reconciling family aspirations with paid work is one of the four pillars for adjusting policies. A comprehensive approach is needed to adapt social and economic policies in order to manage demographic change.
The quality of life, availability of care and housing, as well as work opportunities and adequate income may shape choices. This can also help to mitigate the impacts of demographic change by inter alia enabling a higher labour force participation of women and supporting child development.
Based on Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013[2] on European demographic statistics and the Implementing Regulation (EU) No 205/2014[3], Eurostat collects annually from EU countries the number of live births by country of citizenship of the mother (broken down by national citizenship, citizenship of other EU countries, and citizenship of non-EU countries).
Data is available on Eurostat’s online database[4]. No information is available on the second parent, only referring to the mother.
- [1] https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/whats-new/newsroom/27-10-2023-harnessing-talent-in-europe-commission-launches-the-demography-toolbox_en
- [2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1414166546868&uri=CELEX:32013R1260
- [3] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1414166596621&uri=CELEX:32014R0205
- [4] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/demo_faczc__custom_15467911/bookmark/table?lang=en&bookmarkId=9283caa2-b30b-4895-8566-fdfe3067a199