Fertility norms in Europe

Ideal family size

Data is taken from the tables at the end of this PDF. These are based on the 2011 Eurobarometer survey. This survey records the mean of people's answers to the question of what their general (as opposed to personal) ideal family size is.

Mean general ideal family size by gender, age, and country

Based on Table A.2.1 of the paper.

Country	15-24 (women)	25-39 (women)	40-54 (women)	55+ (women)	Total (women)	15-24 (men)	25-39 (men)	40-54 (men)	55+ (men)	Total (men)
Austria	2.07	1.94	1.96	1.97	1.97	1.87	1.73	2.01	2.06	1.93
Belgium	2.31	2.13	2.2	2.19	2.2	2.22	2.17	2.19	2.13	2.17
Bulgaria	1.97	2.11	2	2.15	2.08	2.14	2.04	2.01	2.12	2.07
Cyprus	2.29	2.28	2.56	2.8	2.5	2.66	2.41	2.59	2.98	2.66
Czech Rep.	2.02	1.89	1.98	2.07	1.99	1.86	1.87	1.87	2.01	1.91
Denmark	2.53	2.48	2.43	2.49	2.48	2.38	2.33	2.35	2.46	2.39
Estonia	2.32	2.58	2.67	2.68	2.59	2.46	2.54	2.63	2.74	2.59
Finland	2.51	2.43	2.72	2.61	2.58	2.35	2.26	2.4	2.39	2.36
France	2.34	2.33	2.28	2.34	2.33	2.5	2.25	2.22	2.35	2.32
Germany	2.23	1.96	2.05	2.2	2.12	2.3	2	2.1	2.11	2.11
Germany (East)	2.26	1.91	1.93	2.19	2.08	2.45	1.94	1.94	2.07	2.05
Germany (West)	2.22	1.98	2.09	2.2	2.13	2.26	2.02	2.15	2.12	2.13
Greece	2.23	2.28	2.27	2.44	2.33	2.23	2.13	2.39	2.44	2.3
Hungary	2.19	1.99	2.12	2.19	2.12	2.2	2.15	2.08	2.28	2.18
Ireland	2.81	2.65	2.62	2.91	2.74	2.67	2.53	2.52	2.87	2.63
Italy	1.99	1.93	1.93	2.12	2.01	2.08	1.92	2.1	2.1	2.05
Latvia	2.36	2.42	2.38	2.61	2.45	2.41	2.5	2.44	2.62	2.49
Lithuania	2.21	2.24	2.15	2.47	2.29	2.28	2.26	2.38	2.48	2.35
Luxembourg	2.51	2.24	2.11	2.25	2.25	2.11	2.13	2.07	2.13	2.11
Malta	1.96	1.81	1.96	2.02	1.94	1.99	1.84	1.81	2	1.91
Netherlands	2.41	2.22	2.28	2.41	2.33	2.17	2.17	2.28	2.31	2.25
Poland	2.22	2.06	2.23	2.48	2.27	2.32	2.21	2.21	2.25	2.24
Portugal	1.96	1.95	1.98	2.02	1.98	1.94	1.99	1.91	2.11	2
Romania	2	1.96	1.94	2.29	2.07	2	1.99	2.01	2.18	2.05
Slovakia	2.15	2.08	2.08	2.33	2.17	1.94	1.88	1.98	2.26	2.01
Slovenia	2.38	2.38	2.31	2.42	2.38	2.43	2.52	2.32	2.38	2.41
Spain	2.18	2.07	2.04	2.17	2.11	1.94	1.98	2.14	2.11	2.06
Sweden	2.6	2.27	2.46	2.41	2.41	2.45	2.26	2.36	2.4	2.37
United Kingdom	2.68	2.3	2.23	2.22	2.32	2.51	2.25	2.31	2.24	2.3
EU-27	2.27	2.11	2.13	2.26	2.19	2.25	2.1	2.17	2.21	2.18

General ideal family size distribution for women

This is a somewhat modified version of Table A.2.5 of the paper.

Country	No children	1 child	2 children	3 or more children	No ideal	Don't know	Mean	Number of cases
Austria	0.02	0.07	0.61	0.24	0.05	0	1.97	531
Belgium	0.01	0.01	0.47	0.4	0.1	0.01	2.2	521
Bulgaria	0.03	0.08	0.5	0.34	0.05	0	2.08	530
Cyprus	0.02	0.08	0.64	0.19	0.05	0.02	2.5	258
Czech Rep.	0.01	0.04	0.41	0.48	0.05	0.02	1.99	603
Denmark	0.01	0.04	0.6	0.29	0.05	0.01	2.48	500
Estonia	0.01	0.02	0.32	0.42	0.2	0.04	2.59	601
Finland	0.03	0.13	0.54	0.17	0.12	0.01	2.58	563
France	0	0.05	0.59	0.24	0.1	0.01	2.33	608
Germany	0.01	0.02	0.52	0.24	0.17	0.02	2.12	821
Germany (East)	0.03	0.13	0.49	0.16	0.16	0.02	2.08	319
Germany (West)	0.03	0.16	0.59	0.15	0.06	0.01	2.13	502
Greece	0.01	0.02	0.53	0.35	0.07	0.01	2.33	530
Hungary	0.03	0.05	0.58	0.19	0.14	0.01	2.12	556
Ireland	0.03	0.09	0.59	0.18	0.11	0	2.74	536
Italy	0.01	0.03	0.53	0.22	0.2	0.01	2.01	587
Latvia	0	0.01	0.38	0.32	0.28	0	2.45	552
Lithuania	0	0.07	0.72	0.14	0.06	0.01	2.29	557
Luxembourg	0	0.05	0.49	0.42	0.02	0.01	2.25	274
Malta	0.01	0.13	0.62	0.13	0.09	0.01	1.94	310
Netherlands	0	0.03	0.39	0.53	0.04	0.01	2.33	492
Poland	0.02	0.11	0.62	0.23	0.01	0.02	2.27	625
Portugal	0.01	0.06	0.46	0.44	0.02	0	1.98	546
Romania	0.01	0.06	0.53	0.32	0.06	0.01	2.07	543
Slovakia	0.02	0.17	0.58	0.14	0.07	0.01	2.17	566
Slovenia	0.01	0.08	0.49	0.28	0.07	0.07	2.38	574
Spain	0.01	0.11	0.63	0.13	0.07	0.04	2.11	522
Sweden	0	0.11	0.58	0.22	0.06	0.03	2.41	501
United Kingdom	0.01	0.04	0.53	0.3	0.1	0.02	2.32	747
EU-27	0.02	0.07	0.56	0.23	0.1	0.02	2.19	14554

General ideal family size distribution for men

This is a somewhat modified version of Table A.2.5 of the paper.

Country	No children	1 child	2 children	3 or more children	No ideal	Don't know	Mean	Number of cases
Austria	0.03	0.07	0.63	0.22	0.05	0	1.93	474
Belgium	0	0.01	0.58	0.32	0.09	0.01	2.17	504
Bulgaria	0.03	0.06	0.54	0.3	0.06	0	2.07	472
Cyprus	0.04	0.09	0.6	0.18	0.06	0.02	2.66	246
Czech Rep.	0.05	0.03	0.51	0.37	0.03	0.01	1.91	416
Denmark	0.01	0.03	0.61	0.3	0.05	0	2.39	512
Estonia	0.01	0.01	0.39	0.35	0.18	0.07	2.59	400
Finland	0.02	0.11	0.56	0.17	0.12	0.02	2.36	445
France	0.03	0.03	0.7	0.18	0.05	0.01	2.32	460
Germany	0.02	0.03	0.62	0.24	0.08	0.01	2.11	751
Germany (East)	0.05	0.12	0.45	0.13	0.22	0.04	2.05	251
Germany (West)	0.02	0.15	0.62	0.14	0.04	0.02	2.13	500
Greece	0	0.02	0.58	0.31	0.07	0.01	2.3	470
Hungary	0.03	0.06	0.57	0.19	0.14	0.02	2.18	448
Ireland	0.02	0.1	0.64	0.17	0.06	0.01	2.63	480
Italy	0.01	0.02	0.59	0.2	0.15	0.04	2.05	457
Latvia	0	0.03	0.39	0.39	0.17	0.01	2.49	467
Lithuania	0	0.07	0.72	0.11	0.07	0.04	2.35	469
Luxembourg	0	0.03	0.4	0.53	0.04	0	2.11	233
Malta	0.03	0.14	0.6	0.1	0.12	0.01	1.91	190
Netherlands	0	0.02	0.4	0.48	0.07	0.02	2.25	509
Poland	0.01	0.11	0.56	0.26	0.03	0.03	2.24	375
Portugal	0.01	0.05	0.43	0.48	0.03	0.01	2	502
Romania	0.01	0.04	0.55	0.3	0.1	0.01	2.05	532
Slovakia	0.02	0.16	0.6	0.1	0.09	0.03	2.01	434
Slovenia	0.01	0.08	0.53	0.22	0.07	0.09	2.41	445
Spain	0.01	0.11	0.6	0.15	0.07	0.06	2.06	482
Sweden	0.02	0.15	0.54	0.19	0.08	0.02	2.37	518
United Kingdom	0	0.02	0.52	0.28	0.14	0.02	2.3	595
EU-27	0.02	0.07	0.58	0.21	0.09	0.03	2.18	12286

Personal ideal family size (desired fertility)

Data is taken from the tables at the end of this PDF. These are based on the 2011 Eurobarometer survey. This survey records the mean of people's answers to the question of what their personal ideal family size, or desired fertility, is.

Mean personal ideal family size by age and country

Based on Table A.2.2 of the paper.

Country	15-24 (women)	25-39 (women)	40-54 (women)	55+ (women)	Total (women)	15-24 (men)	25-39 (men)	40-54 (men)	55+ (men)	Total (men)
Austria	1.96	1.79	1.83	2.15	1.95	1.67	1.69	1.83	2.05	1.84
Belgium	2.34	2.32	2.58	2.4	2.42	2.1	2.19	2.25	2.22	2.2
Bulgaria	1.96	2.01	1.9	2	1.97	2.09	1.97	2	2.02	2.01
Cyprus	2.41	2.7	2.89	3.31	2.88	2.59	2.57	2.98	3.49	2.93
Czech Rep.	2.04	1.93	2.13	2.24	2.1	1.99	1.9	1.88	2.06	1.96
Denmark	2.47	2.62	2.47	2.6	2.55	2.33	2.24	2.31	2.52	2.37
Estonia	2.28	2.5	2.58	2.44	2.46	2.3	2.28	2.45	2.64	2.42
Finland	2.45	2.47	2.64	2.45	2.5	2.19	2.15	2.4	2.31	2.28
France	2.5	2.49	2.51	2.44	2.47	2.29	2.23	2.2	2.45	2.3
Germany	2.08	2.04	2.3	2.41	2.27	2.23	1.98	2.04	2.17	2.1
Germany (East)	2.19	1.78	2.02	2.18	2.07	2.08	1.98	1.72	2.06	1.95
Germany (West)	2.04	2.11	2.37	2.48	2.33	2.28	1.98	2.13	2.2	2.15
Greece	2.14	2.21	2.27	2.59	2.34	2.31	2.07	2.33	2.49	2.3
Hungary	2.12	1.99	2.09	2.23	2.12	2.09	2.17	2.02	2.32	2.16
Ireland	2.42	2.66	2.78	3.65	2.92	2.51	2.56	2.57	3.22	2.73
Italy	2.16	1.93	1.97	2.07	2.02	2	1.91	2.08	2.16	2.06
Latvia	2.1	2.45	2.26	2.41	2.32	2.26	2.38	2.33	2.3	2.32
Lithuania	2.06	2.24	2.15	2.45	2.26	2.04	2.16	2.29	2.51	2.26
Luxembourg	2.21	2.23	2.35	2.42	2.32	1.93	2.16	1.99	2.2	2.08
Malta	1.9	2.06	1.97	2.56	2.17	1.8	1.84	1.94	2.74	2.11
Netherlands	2.49	2.17	2.38	2.78	2.49	1.89	1.76	2.28	2.36	2.12
Poland	2.16	2.12	2.47	2.73	2.42	1.89	1.99	2.23	2.32	2.13
Portugal	2.02	2.07	1.99	2.25	2.11	2	2.08	1.95	2.4	2.13
Romania	1.87	1.9	1.94	2.19	2	2.01	1.93	2.22	2.29	2.11
Slovakia	2.17	1.97	2.18	2.33	2.17	1.84	1.85	2.05	2.36	2.03
Slovenia	2.37	2.38	2.37	2.33	2.36	2.45	2.54	2.25	2.21	2.35
Spain	2.12	2.08	2.23	2.51	2.27	2.11	2.03	2.19	2.72	2.29
Sweden	2.69	2.38	2.34	2.39	2.41	2.45	2.26	2.28	2.37	2.33
United Kingdom	2.37	2.27	2.36	2.34	2.33	2.07	2.18	2.2	2.28	2.2
EU-27	2.23	2.15	2.27	2.39	2.28	2.11	2.05	2.15	2.32	2.17

Personal ideal family size distribution for women by country

Country	No children	1 child	2 children	3 or more children	No ideal	Don't know	Number of cases
Austria	0.06	0.15	0.5	0.18	0.07	0.05	531
Belgium	0.05	0.09	0.44	0.39	0.03	0	521
Bulgaria	0.01	0.13	0.71	0.1	0.02	0.03	530
Cyprus	0.01	0.03	0.35	0.59	0.01	0.02	258
Czech Rep.	0.01	0.11	0.63	0.18	0.05	0.02	603
Denmark	0.04	0.03	0.46	0.45	0.02	0	500
Estonia	0.01	0.06	0.46	0.41	0.04	0.02	601
Finland	0.06	0.06	0.39	0.45	0.02	0.01	563
France	0.02	0.1	0.46	0.4	0.01	0.01	608
Germany	0.04	0.08	0.54	0.27	0.04	0.03	821
Germany (East)	0.04	0.11	0.62	0.21	0.02	0.01	319
Germany (West)	0.04	0.07	0.52	0.28	0.05	0.03	502
Greece	0.04	0.06	0.52	0.35	0.02	0.01	530
Hungary	0.02	0.12	0.58	0.23	0	0.05	556
Ireland	0.03	0.04	0.3	0.49	0.07	0.07	536
Italy	0.04	0.14	0.54	0.19	0.06	0.04	587
Latvia	0.02	0.08	0.53	0.34	0.01	0.03	552
Lithuania	0.02	0.07	0.55	0.29	0.04	0.03	557
Luxembourg	0.03	0.08	0.52	0.32	0.04	0.01	274
Malta	0.05	0.13	0.49	0.24	0.05	0.05	310
Netherlands	0.06	0.06	0.41	0.38	0.06	0.02	492
Poland	0.01	0.08	0.44	0.32	0.05	0.09	625
Portugal	0.03	0.16	0.54	0.21	0.03	0.02	546
Romania	0.02	0.13	0.6	0.13	0.07	0.06	543
Slovakia	0.02	0.11	0.59	0.22	0.02	0.03	566
Slovenia	0.02	0.07	0.52	0.32	0.04	0.04	574
Spain	0.03	0.06	0.58	0.27	0.03	0.02	522
Sweden	0.03	0.06	0.51	0.37	0.02	0.01	501
United Kingdom	0.05	0.06	0.53	0.29	0.05	0.02	747
EU-27	0.03	0.09	0.52	0.28	0.04	0.03	14554

Personal ideal family size distribution for men by age and country

Country	No children	1 child	2 children	3 or more children	No ideal	Don't know	Number of cases
Austria	0.09	0.14	0.41	0.16	0.13	0.07	474
Belgium	0.07	0.11	0.49	0.29	0.04	0	504
Bulgaria	0	0.1	0.7	0.1	0.05	0.05	472
Cyprus	0.01	0.02	0.32	0.63	0.01	0.01	246
Czech Rep.	0.03	0.17	0.6	0.13	0.04	0.03	416
Denmark	0.04	0.03	0.54	0.34	0.03	0.01	512
Estonia	0.02	0.05	0.48	0.36	0.04	0.05	400
Finland	0.06	0.07	0.5	0.33	0.02	0.03	445
France	0.04	0.05	0.52	0.33	0.03	0.02	460
Germany	0.05	0.09	0.56	0.21	0.05	0.04	751
Germany (East)	0.07	0.13	0.59	0.17	0.03	0.01	251
Germany (West)	0.04	0.08	0.55	0.22	0.06	0.04	500
Greece	0.03	0.07	0.55	0.29	0.04	0.02	470
Hungary	0.04	0.1	0.53	0.26	0.01	0.06	448
Ireland	0.02	0.03	0.37	0.39	0.08	0.11	480
Italy	0.03	0.1	0.56	0.18	0.06	0.05	457
Latvia	0.02	0.07	0.49	0.35	0.04	0.02	467
Lithuania	0.02	0.07	0.56	0.27	0.05	0.04	469
Luxembourg	0.05	0.11	0.52	0.25	0.04	0.03	233
Malta	0.02	0.14	0.59	0.14	0.05	0.06	190
Netherlands	0.1	0.05	0.51	0.27	0.04	0.03	509
Poland	0.03	0.09	0.52	0.2	0.06	0.11	375
Portugal	0.03	0.13	0.57	0.19	0.03	0.05	502
Romania	0.02	0.12	0.59	0.17	0.05	0.07	532
Slovakia	0.03	0.15	0.5	0.2	0.08	0.04	434
Slovenia	0.01	0.05	0.57	0.25	0.05	0.06	445
Spain	0.04	0.07	0.54	0.27	0.03	0.05	482
Sweden	0.04	0.05	0.54	0.33	0.01	0.02	518
United Kingdom	0.07	0.06	0.51	0.25	0.05	0.06	595
EU-27	0.04	0.08	0.54	0.24	0.05	0.05	12286