There were 4,311 live births in Iceland in 2024, down from 4,315 in the previous year. The number of boys was 2,224 and the number of girls 2,087, i.e. 1,066 boys for every 1,000 girls.
The main measure of fertility is the total fertility rate. It is generally assumed that fertility needs to be around 2.1 children to maintain the population in the long term. In 2024, the total fertility rate of women in Iceland was 1.56 and has not been lower since measurements began in 1853. In 2023, the total fertility rate was 1.59, which is the second lowest total fertility rate ever recorded in the country. Total fertility rate has not risen above 2.0 for over a decade in Iceland. The last time it occurred was in 2012 when it was 2.1.
As in Iceland, fertility in the Nordic countries has decreased in recent years. Last year, the number of live births per woman was just over 1.4 in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, while in Finland it had dropped to 1.26 in 2023. In the Faroe Islands and Greenland, fertility was 1.86 and 1.78 respectively in 2023, but it has declined rapidly in recent years. For example, the Faroe Islands had a fertility rate of 2.33 in 2021, while Greenland's fertility rate was 2.12 in 2020.
Age-specific fertility rate very low among mothers under twenty
Age-specific fertility rate among mothers under twenty was 3.5 per 1,000 women in 2024 which is very low compared with the period 1961-1965 when it peaked at 84 children per 1,000 women. Apart from the last three years, the year 1870 is the only other year in which the birth rate of mothers under twenty went below four children per 1,000 women.
The age of mothers at the birth of a child has increased on average in recent decades. The mean age of primiparas in 2024 was 29.1 years compared with less than 22 years in the 1970s. For the fifth time since 1932, age-specific fertility rate is highest among women aged 30 to 34. Women in that age group had 102.9 children per 1,000 women in 2024. Age-specific fertility rate among women aged 25 to 29 was only 98.4 in 2024, and it has never been lower.
About the data
Due to a change in methods in 2024, the statistics on births now cover all children of mothers who are assessed as residing in Iceland, whether the children are born in Iceland or abroad. As a result, children born in Iceland to mothers assessed as living abroad are not included. This change applies from 2011, but before that time the mother's legal residence at the time of the child's birth was considered.