There were 4,387 live births in Iceland in 2025, up from 4,311 in the previous year. The number of boys was 2,292 and the number of girls 2,095, i.e. 1,094 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 2025, the fertility rate among women residing in Iceland was 1.56, matching the record low observed in 2024 and representing the lowest level since measurements began in 1853. 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, around 1.5 in Norway and Denmark, while in Finland it was 1.3 in 2025. In the Faroe Islands, fertility rose to 2.1 in 2025, up from 1.9 in 2024. In Greenland, the fertility rate was 1.7 in 2025, having declined rapidly in recent years from 2.12 in 2020.
Age-specific fertility rate very low among mothers under twenty
Age-specific fertility rate among mothers under twenty was 3.1 per 1,000 women in 2025 which is very low compared with the period 1961-1965 when it peaked at 84 children per 1,000 women. Apart from last 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.
From 1932 to 2018, the age-specific birth rate was always highest in the 20-24 and 25-29 age groups, but in 2019 the birth rate became highest in the 30-34 age group. This reversed in 2025, when 103.1 children were born per 1,000 women aged 25-29, an increase from 98.4 the previous year, and 102.1 in the 30-34 age group.
The age of mothers at the birth of a child has increased on average in recent decades. The mean age of primiparas in 2025 was 29.2 years compared with less than 22 years in the 1970s.
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.