Children per Woman in Germany: 1800 to Today (and Tomorrow)

The statistics of a human life often reveal themselves in the quiet rhythms of family size, charting the changing contours of generations over time. At MYRIAD, we examine the numbers that define our existence, looking at the average number of children a woman would bear over her lifetime. For Germany, the story across three centuries is below — every value is a statistical fact about the lives actually lived there.

In the 1800s estimate, the average stood at 5.04. The arc of the decades traces a steady descent through the 1810s estimate 4.94, the 1820s estimate 4.84, the 1830s estimate 4.74, the 1840s estimate 4.64, the 1850s estimate 4.54, the 1860s estimate 4.44, the 1870s estimate 4.34, the 1880s estimate 4.24, the 1890s estimate 4.14, and the 1900s estimate 4.04. The decline continued through the 1910s estimate 3.76, the 1920s estimate 3.48, the 1930s estimate 3.19, the 1940s estimate 2.91, the 1950s 2.63, the 1960s 2.4, the 1970s 2.16, the 1980s 1.93, the 1990s 1.68, the 2000s 1.42, and the 2010s 1.48. In 1900 it was 4.04 births.

For someone navigating these shifting eras, the context of family changed profoundly. In the 2020s, children per woman in Germany stands at 1.53 births — ranking #113 of 157 countries. Looking ahead, the 2030s projection 1.58, the 2040s projection 1.62, the 2050s projection 1.64, the 2060s projection 1.66, the 2070s projection 1.67, the 2080s projection 1.68, the 2090s projection 1.69, and the 2100s projection 1.69 outline the future landscape. Keep exploring Life Expectancy at Birth in Germany Income per Person (GDP per capita, PPP) in Germany Child Mortality (under 5) in Germany Years of Schooling in Germany Living in Cities in Germany Full country profile: Germany Where do YOU rank among everyone ever born? →