evidence: Indeed, women in the EU appear to be having fewer children while they are young, and more children later in life (see, for example, data for 2022 in Figure 4 at ages higher than 30 years). While the fertility rates for women aged less than 30 years in the EU have declined since 2001, those for women aged 30 years and over have risen. In 2001, the fertility rate for women aged 25-29 years was the highest among all age groups. In 2022, the fertility rate for women aged 30-34 years became the highest. The fertility rate for women aged 35 years and over is also on the increase. [...] Among the EU Member States, France reported the highest total fertility rate in 2022, with 1.79 live births per woman, followed by Romania (1.71) and Bulgaria (1.65). By contrast, the lowest total fertility rates in 2022 were recorded in Malta (1.08 live births per woman), Spain (1.16) and Italy (1.24). Among the EFTA countries, the highest total fertility rate in 2022 was reported by Iceland (1.59) and the lowest by Switzerland (1.39). [...] The final group (top left quadrant) was composed of Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, France, Croatia, Latvia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia, as well as Iceland; in each of these, the total fertility rate was higher than the EU average but the mean age of women at the birth of their first child was below the EU average.