Health · Facts & sources
6 sourced facts about fertility and birth rates, each with the context behind the number. 4 more are in today's round and appear here after it closes.
Answerabout 17.5% (roughly 1 in 6)
WHO found similar rates across income levels: 17.8% in high-income and 16.5% in low- and middle-income countries.
Source: World Health Organization (2023) who.int
Answermore than 10 million
An estimated 4 million assisted reproduction cycles now take place each year, with about 1 million babies born.
Source: ESHRE (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology), ART fact sheet (2025) eshre.eu
Answer1.34 live births per woman (a historic low)
About 3.55 million babies were born in the EU in 2024, almost half as many as in 1964.
Source: Eurostat, Fertility statistics (2024) ec.europa.eu
Answer27.6 years
In the EU, the average age of women at the birth of their first child was higher, at 29.9 years.
Source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, FastStats (2024) cdc.gov
Answeraround 73%
Conventional IVF makes up the remaining 27%, though the split varies greatly between countries.
Source: ESHRE (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology), ART fact sheet (2025) eshre.eu
Answer53.8
Just under 40% of U.S. births (39.5%) were to unmarried mothers.
Source: CDC National Center for Health Statistics, FastStats (2024) cdc.gov