(Brussels) In the EU, the average age of women having their first child is 29. The lowest average is in Bulgaria, at 26 years old, while the highest one is in Italy, at the age of 31. This has been found by a wide survey conducted by Eurostat and published today. In 2016 (the figures are for 2016), 5 million 148 thousand children were born in the EU versus 5 million 103 thousand the year before. 5% of first children were born to women under 20 years of age; 3% to women over 40 years of age. All in all, the EU’s birth rate indicator has set at 1.6 children per woman; Italy and Spain have the negative record-breaking number of 1.34 children per woman, while France is, once again, top of the list with 1.92 babies per woman.