Baku, December 5, AZERTAC

Births in the EU last year plunged to an all-time low, heightening 'underpopulation' fears, Dailymail.com reported.

Just 3.67million babies were born across the 27 nations in the Bloc in 2023. This was down 5.5 per cent on 2022, marking the biggest percentage drop since records began in 1961. Double-digit percentage falls were recorded in the worst-affected countries, with Romania experiencing a 13.9 per cent decrease.Freefalling birth rates have triggered doomsday warnings about an impending population collapse, which experts believe will cripple western economies.

Immigration will be needed to avoid the devastating consequences in Britain and the US, demographers delving into the topic have warned. Otherwise, the ever-declining birth rate could leave powerhouses with too few younger people to work, pay tax and look after the elderly.

After Romania, Poland (10.7 per cent), Czechia (10 per cent), Latvia (9.2 per cent), and Slovakia (7.7 per cent) saw the biggest year-on-year decline in births.

Wealthy EU nations, including France and Germany, also saw a significant drop.Just five nations saw any rise in total births – Malta (3.6 per cent), Portugal (2.4 per cent), Bulgaria (1.1 per cent), Cyprus (1 per cent) and Ireland (0.5 per cent).

The threat of underpopulation sparked by 'baby busts' is a pet topic of Elon Musk.

In 2017, the eccentric Tesla billionaire said the number of people on Earth is 'accelerating towards collapse but few seem to notice or care'. And in 2021 he warned that civilisation is 'going to crumble' if people don't have more children.

While some nations are set to see their populations halve, others, especially in Africa, are forecast to log an eight-fold increase by the 22nd century.

Every single EU nation has a fertility rate – the average number of kids per childbearing woman – well below the replacement rate of 2.1, the number needed for the population to remain static.

The fertility rate in England and Wales in 2023, according to the latest Office for National Statistics report, was just 1.44 – the lowest on record.

The UK hasn't had an average fertility rate above 2.1 since the early 70s.

Experts believe the trend is partly down to women focusing on their education and careers and couples waiting to have children until later in life.

The UK's fragile economy and cost-of-living crisis is also putting people off having children, some believe, evidenced by abortion rates simultaneously spiking.

Others cite the environment, with people fearing that they will worsen their carbon footprint by having a child or that their child will have a bleak future due to climate change.

There is no evidence that Covid vaccines are to blame, with scientists insisting there is no proof they harm fertility.

Professor Melinda Mills, a demographer at the University of Oxford, told the Telegraph that with more educated women pursuing careers, they find it harder to find childcare.

She also said that many wait until their mid-30s which, due to biological factors, can lead to fewer people being successful in having children.

'You are starting to have children when you are biologically less able to have children,' she told the Telegraph.

'You might be able to have one child but because you're starting so late biologically, it's really difficult to have more children. People are getting caught out on that where they're just running out of time.'

Declining birth rates mean that the world's biggest economies will have to become more reliant on immigration as the population ages.