Fertility norms in Europe

Summary

Data is taken from the tables at the end of this PDF. These are based on the 2011 Eurobarometer survey.

Country	Mean ideal family size for females	Mean ideal family size for males	Mean desired fertility (personal ideal family size) for females	Mean desired fertility (personal ideal family size) for males	Quotient of mean ideal family size	males to females	Quotient of mean desired fertility	males to females	Quotient of mean desired fertility to mean ideal family size	females	Quotient of mean desired fertility to mean ideal family size	males
Austria	1.97	1.93	1.95	1.84	0.9796954315	0.9435897436	0.9898477157	0.9533678756
Belgium	2.2	2.17	2.42	2.2	0.9863636364	0.9090909091	1.1	1.0138248848
Bulgaria	2.08	2.07	1.97	2.01	0.9951923077	1.0203045685	0.9471153846	0.9710144928
Cyprus	2.5	2.66	2.88	2.93	1.064	1.0173611111	1.152	1.1015037594
Czech Rep.	1.99	1.91	2.1	1.96	0.959798995	0.9333333333	1.0552763819	1.0261780105
Denmark	2.48	2.39	2.55	2.37	0.9637096774	0.9294117647	1.0282258065	0.9916317992
Estonia	2.59	2.59	2.46	2.42	1	0.9837398374	0.9498069498	0.9343629344
Finland	2.58	2.36	2.5	2.28	0.9147286822	0.912	0.9689922481	0.9661016949
France	2.33	2.32	2.47	2.3	0.9957081545	0.9311740891	1.0600858369	0.9913793103
Germany	2.12	2.11	2.27	2.1	0.9952830189	0.9251101322	1.070754717	0.9952606635
Germany (East)	2.08	2.05	2.07	1.95	0.9855769231	0.9420289855	0.9951923077	0.9512195122
Germany (West)	2.13	2.13	2.33	2.15	1	0.9227467811	1.0938967136	1.0093896714
Greece	2.33	2.3	2.34	2.3	0.9871244635	0.9829059829	1.0042918455	1
Hungary	2.12	2.18	2.12	2.16	1.0283018868	1.0188679245	1	0.9908256881
Ireland	2.74	2.63	2.92	2.73	0.9598540146	0.9349315068	1.0656934307	1.0380228137
Italy	2.01	2.05	2.02	2.06	1.0199004975	1.0198019802	1.0049751244	1.0048780488
Latvia	2.45	2.49	2.32	2.32	1.0163265306	1	0.9469387755	0.9317269076
Lithuania	2.29	2.35	2.26	2.26	1.0262008734	1	0.9868995633	0.9617021277
Luxembourg	2.25	2.11	2.32	2.08	0.9377777778	0.8965517241	1.0311111111	0.9857819905
Malta	1.94	1.91	2.17	2.11	0.9845360825	0.9723502304	1.118556701	1.1047120419
Netherlands	2.33	2.25	2.49	2.12	0.9656652361	0.8514056225	1.0686695279	0.9422222222
Poland	2.27	2.24	2.42	2.13	0.986784141	0.8801652893	1.0660792952	0.9508928571
Portugal	1.98	2	2.11	2.13	1.0101010101	1.009478673	1.0656565657	1.065
Romania	2.07	2.05	2	2.11	0.9903381643	1.055	0.9661835749	1.0292682927
Slovakia	2.17	2.01	2.17	2.03	0.9262672811	0.935483871	1	1.0099502488
Slovenia	2.38	2.41	2.36	2.35	1.012605042	0.9957627119	0.9915966387	0.9751037344
Spain	2.11	2.06	2.27	2.29	0.9763033175	1.0088105727	1.0758293839	1.1116504854
Sweden	2.41	2.37	2.41	2.33	0.9834024896	0.9668049793	1	0.9831223629
United Kingdom	2.32	2.3	2.33	2.2	0.9913793103	0.9442060086	1.0043103448	0.9565217391
EU-27	2.19	2.18	2.28	2.17	0.99543379	0.951754386	1.0410958904	0.995412844
Correlation with mean ideal family size for females	1	0.9389517492	0.8541051471	0.784277175
Correlation with mean ideal family size for males	0.9389517492	1	0.8297381441	0.871817239
Correlation with mean desired fertility for females	0.8541051471	0.8297381441	1	0.8708327643
Correlation with mean desired fertility for males	0.784277175	0.871817239	0.8708327643	1
Slope for regression with respect to mean ideal family size for females	1	0.950228596	0.9609478411	0.8284433545
Slope for regression with respect to mean ideal family size for males	0.9278087304	1	0.9224539851	0.9099842476
Slope for regression with respect to mean desired fertility for females	0.7591417256	0.7463411713	1	0.8175974476
Slope for regression with respect to mean desired fertility for males	0.7424655939	0.8352510498	0.9275343333	1

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 by gender, age, 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

Distribution for women by country

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

Distribution for men by country

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 by gender, 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

Distribution for women by country

This is a modified version of Table A.2.6 of the paper.

Country	No children	1 child	2 children	3 or more children	No ideal	Don't know	Mean	Number of cases
Austria	0.06	0.15	0.5	0.18	0.07	0.05	1.95	531
Belgium	0.05	0.09	0.44	0.39	0.03	0	2.42	521
Bulgaria	0.01	0.13	0.71	0.1	0.02	0.03	1.97	530
Cyprus	0.01	0.03	0.35	0.59	0.01	0.02	2.88	258
Czech Rep.	0.01	0.11	0.63	0.18	0.05	0.02	2.1	603
Denmark	0.04	0.03	0.46	0.45	0.02	0	2.55	500
Estonia	0.01	0.06	0.46	0.41	0.04	0.02	2.46	601
Finland	0.06	0.06	0.39	0.45	0.02	0.01	2.5	563
France	0.02	0.1	0.46	0.4	0.01	0.01	2.47	608
Germany	0.04	0.08	0.54	0.27	0.04	0.03	2.27	821
Germany (East)	0.04	0.11	0.62	0.21	0.02	0.01	2.07	319
Germany (West)	0.04	0.07	0.52	0.28	0.05	0.03	2.33	502
Greece	0.04	0.06	0.52	0.35	0.02	0.01	2.34	530
Hungary	0.02	0.12	0.58	0.23	0	0.05	2.12	556
Ireland	0.03	0.04	0.3	0.49	0.07	0.07	2.92	536
Italy	0.04	0.14	0.54	0.19	0.06	0.04	2.02	587
Latvia	0.02	0.08	0.53	0.34	0.01	0.03	2.32	552
Lithuania	0.02	0.07	0.55	0.29	0.04	0.03	2.26	557
Luxembourg	0.03	0.08	0.52	0.32	0.04	0.01	2.32	274
Malta	0.05	0.13	0.49	0.24	0.05	0.05	2.17	310
Netherlands	0.06	0.06	0.41	0.38	0.06	0.02	2.49	492
Poland	0.01	0.08	0.44	0.32	0.05	0.09	2.42	625
Portugal	0.03	0.16	0.54	0.21	0.03	0.02	2.11	546
Romania	0.02	0.13	0.6	0.13	0.07	0.06	2	543
Slovakia	0.02	0.11	0.59	0.22	0.02	0.03	2.17	566
Slovenia	0.02	0.07	0.52	0.32	0.04	0.04	2.36	574
Spain	0.03	0.06	0.58	0.27	0.03	0.02	2.27	522
Sweden	0.03	0.06	0.51	0.37	0.02	0.01	2.41	501
United Kingdom	0.05	0.06	0.53	0.29	0.05	0.02	2.33	747
EU-27	0.03	0.09	0.52	0.28	0.04	0.03	2.28	14554

Distribution for men by country

This is a modified version of Table A.2.6 of the paper.

Country	No children	1 child	2 children	3 or more children	No ideal	Don't know	Mean	Number of cases
Austria	0.09	0.14	0.41	0.16	0.13	0.07	1.84	474
Belgium	0.07	0.11	0.49	0.29	0.04	0	2.2	504
Bulgaria	0	0.1	0.7	0.1	0.05	0.05	2.01	472
Cyprus	0.01	0.02	0.32	0.63	0.01	0.01	2.93	246
Czech Rep.	0.03	0.17	0.6	0.13	0.04	0.03	1.96	416
Denmark	0.04	0.03	0.54	0.34	0.03	0.01	2.37	512
Estonia	0.02	0.05	0.48	0.36	0.04	0.05	2.42	400
Finland	0.06	0.07	0.5	0.33	0.02	0.03	2.28	445
France	0.04	0.05	0.52	0.33	0.03	0.02	2.3	460
Germany	0.05	0.09	0.56	0.21	0.05	0.04	2.1	751
Germany (East)	0.07	0.13	0.59	0.17	0.03	0.01	1.95	251
Germany (West)	0.04	0.08	0.55	0.22	0.06	0.04	2.15	500
Greece	0.03	0.07	0.55	0.29	0.04	0.02	2.3	470
Hungary	0.04	0.1	0.53	0.26	0.01	0.06	2.16	448
Ireland	0.02	0.03	0.37	0.39	0.08	0.11	2.73	480
Italy	0.03	0.1	0.56	0.18	0.06	0.05	2.06	457
Latvia	0.02	0.07	0.49	0.35	0.04	0.02	2.32	467
Lithuania	0.02	0.07	0.56	0.27	0.05	0.04	2.26	469
Luxembourg	0.05	0.11	0.52	0.25	0.04	0.03	2.08	233
Malta	0.02	0.14	0.59	0.14	0.05	0.06	2.11	190
Netherlands	0.1	0.05	0.51	0.27	0.04	0.03	2.12	509
Poland	0.03	0.09	0.52	0.2	0.06	0.11	2.13	375
Portugal	0.03	0.13	0.57	0.19	0.03	0.05	2.13	502
Romania	0.02	0.12	0.59	0.17	0.05	0.07	2.11	532
Slovakia	0.03	0.15	0.5	0.2	0.08	0.04	2.03	434
Slovenia	0.01	0.05	0.57	0.25	0.05	0.06	2.35	445
Spain	0.04	0.07	0.54	0.27	0.03	0.05	2.29	482
Sweden	0.04	0.05	0.54	0.33	0.01	0.02	2.33	518
United Kingdom	0.07	0.06	0.51	0.25	0.05	0.06	2.2	595
EU-27	0.04	0.08	0.54	0.24	0.05	0.05	2.17	12286