The average number of children born across the European Union was 1.60 per woman in 2016, low considering the global fertility rate is about 2 births per woman in industrialised nations and 2 to 3.5 in developing nations. According to Eurostat France was Europe's most fertile country in 2016 with 1.92 births per woman, followed by Sweden (1.85) and Ireland (1.81). Spain and Italy came last with 1.34 births per woman in 2016.