1887
Most births in a year
140,169 live births in the selected record.
Sweden · 1870–2025
The birth curve.
How has childbearing changed in Sweden? Explore 156 years of birth counts, alongside total fertility rates from 2000.
Explore the record
Live births, both sexes combined. Total fertility rates for women from 2000.
97,491
live births
Sweden in 2025
1.42children per woman in 2025
2010recent fertility peak: 1.98
−28.3%change from the highest fertility rate in this series
01 · 156 years in one glance
Every stripe is a year.
Blue shows fewer births and coral more. White marks values near the median for the full period. Hover over a stripe, tap it or use the slider to explore a year.
18701900195020002025
Lower 85,020
Higher 140,169
Median 114,374
The colour scale is centred on the median for the full period. It shows the number of births, not the reasons for the differences.
Explore a year
2025
97,491live births
1870Choose a year2025
Births and fertility
2025 recorded 97,491 live births.
The 2020s average is calculated from observed years.
02 · The long trend
Birth waves rise and fall.
The annual figures show how births vary from year to year. The 10-year average shows the longer trend; each value includes that year and the nine before it.
1870–2025 · annual live births and trailing 10-year meanHover to see values · click to select a year
The y-axis starts at 80,000, not zero. Its range adjusts to the selected period.
1933
Fewest births in a year
85,020 live births in the selected record.
2016–2025
Change in recent years
−17.0% from the 2016 count to 2025.
03 · Fertility since 2000
Fertility rose, then fell.
The total fertility rate describes childbearing using the age-specific fertility rates for each year. Here it is shown alongside a five-year average, from 2000 to 2025.
2000–2025 · women’s total fertility rate and trailing five-year meanHover to see values · click to select a year
The y-axis starts at 1.2, not zero. Its range adjusts to the selected period.
2010
Highest in this series
1.98 children per woman.
1.42
Latest value
Children per woman in 2025.
−0.56
Change from the highest rate
−28.3% relative to 2010.
04 · Decades in perspective
Each decade has its own scale.
Compare average annual births across decades. Select a card to see the highest and lowest years and the change from the previous decade.
Decade summary
2020s
The 2020s average is calculated from observed years.
Bars start at zero. All decades use the same scale.
05 · Your comparison
Put two periods side by side.
Choose a measure and two periods to compare their annual averages.
The comparison uses simple arithmetic means of annual values.
difference in average annual births
−4,000
The later period had a lower annual mean than the earlier period.
06 · Data and methods
About the data.
The report uses annual figures from Statistics Sweden. The notes below explain the measures and the scope of the report.
What is shown
Annual live births in Sweden, boys and girls combined, from 1870 to 2025. Women’s total fertility rate is shown from 2000 to 2025.
Why the measures differ
Birth counts depend both on fertility and on the number and age structure of people who can become parents. TFR is a period measure built from the age-specific fertility rates observed in a given year.
Scope of the report
The report describes changes over time. It does not investigate their causes or provide forecasts.
Source: Statistics Sweden (SCB), table {birthsTable}, annual live births, 1870–2025, and table {fertilityTable}, total fertility rate for women, Sweden, 2000–2025. Accessed 28 August 2026. From reference year 2025, SCB applies the Cell Key Method to the live-birth table; the report uses the published combined total. Live-birth table · Fertility table.