The 2025 Fertility Survey continues the series of surveys of this kind that were conducted in 1977, 1985, 1999 and 2018. The main objective is to identify the determining factors of current, recent and expected fertility levels, such as income, work-life balance, the existence of aid or life as a couple.
These preliminary results only explored a portion of the questionnaire focused on desired fertility, the barriers and incentives people encounter when making decisions about their fertility, and the use of assisted reproduction today.
The final results will complete the information in this report with data on family structure and dynamics, couple relationships, pregnancy today, birth control, delayed or early motherhood, and the family of origin of the people interviewed.
69.0% of women aged 18 to 55 wanted to have at least two children by 2025, and 15.5% did not want to have any. In 2018 these percentages stood at 73.6% and 12.3%, respectively.
Almost half of women aged 18 to 34 -including those who were already mothers- wanted to have two children in total, and 20.2% wanted three or more. Among women aged 40 and over, the proportion of women who wanted to have three or more children reached 27.7%.
The percentage of women who did not want to have children in 2025 decreased with age: it went from 24.2% among those under 25 to 11.3% among those over 39.
By nationality, foreign women showed a greater desire to have three or more children than Spanish women, while the rejection of motherhood was significantly higher among the latter.
The most frequent reason why women who did not have children or did not want to have them was that they did not want to be mothers (42.4% of Spanish women, compared to 37.4% of foreign women). Among Spanish women under 25, the main reason was that they considered themselves too young to have children.
In line with 2018, the desire to have two children remained the majority in 2025. However, the percentage of women who did not want to have children increased, especially among those aged 35 to 39 (127.0%), and fell among younger women (10.1% in those under 25).
Percentages
34.8% of women aged 18 to 55 who had children had fewer than they wanted, a percentage five tenths lower than in 2018. By nationality, this proportion was 37.1% among Spanish women and 26.7% among foreign women.
Most of the women under 35 expected to have more children. Nearly 45.3% cited this reason as the cause of having fewer children than desired (1.3% more than in 2018). From the age of 35 onwards, the main reasons for not achieving the desired fertility were work-related, work-life balance and economic.
By nationality, among foreign women economic reasons had a greater weight than among Spanish women (15.7%, compared to 13.6%). For their part, Spanish women more frequently mentioned reasons related to work-life balance (28.5%, compared to 20.5%).
Percentages
As in 2018, the most requested incentive to boost birth rates was to extend the duration of maternity and paternity leave. This percentage was three tenths lower than in 2018, although at that time another 5.5% of women requested equal paternity and maternity leave, an option not included in 2025 because it had already been implemented.
The second incentive was the allowances for dependent children under 18 years of age.
Support for more affordable, quality childcare for children aged 0-3 increased by 65.8% compared to 2018, while flexible working hours for parents decreased by 23.3%.
Conversely, 19.4% of women did not believe in 2025 that birth rates should be encouraged (4.2 points more than in 2018). This percentage decreased to 17.7% among women aged 30 to 34, the group with the highest fertility rate today. This rejection did not change compared to 2018 among those under 25 years of age, but it increased by 72.6% among those aged 35 to 39.
Percentages
By nationality, the percentage of foreign women who rejected the idea of incentives for childbirth was higher than that of Spanish women in all age groups, with a relative average increase of 51.9%.
In 2025, 6.0% of women aged 18 to 55 reported having undergone assisted reproductive treatment at some point, an 11.9% increase compared to 2018.
This percentage increased with age, reaching a maximum of 9.6% among those aged 40 to 44. The figure moderated to 8.3% among those aged 50 and over.
Percentage relative to the total female population
The use of assisted reproduction also showed differences by nationality: Spanish women resorted to these treatments more than foreign women (6.6%, compared to 3.6%).
In 2025 there were no major differences between men and women in the number of children desired: the majority wanted two (45.9%).
But men showed slightly lower percentages in the desire to have three or more children (21.9% compared to 24.3% for women). The rejection of parenthood also decreased with age, as it did among women.
Among men who had fewer children than desired, the most frequent reasons were related to the economic situation, and to work or work-life balance reasons (38.3%). This percentage rose to 67.5% among those under 30 years of age, which was 50.9 points higher than in 2018.
Regarding incentives for childbirth, the most demanded by men were the same as those for women, although they placed allowances for children under 18 years of age ahead of the increased duration of maternity and paternity leave.
Regarding assisted reproduction, 4.7% of men stated that they had used it, almost five tenths less than in 2018.
The data released today represents an advance of the results, after a portion of the questionnaires have been analysed. The detailed definitive results will be published in December 2026. All the results of this operation are available at INEbase.
The 2025 Fertility Survey continues the series of surveys of this kind conducted in 1977, 1985, 1999 and 2018. The research has been directed at the group of people aged 18 to 55, both ages included, who reside in main family homes throughout the national territory. The objective is to identify the determining factors of current, recent and expected future fertility, the conditions of the decision to have children and the reasons that lead to the delay of motherhood and fatherhood. The information was collected over 26 weeks, from 29 September 2025 to 31 March 2026.
Two independent samples were selected, one of men and a larger one of women, extracting independent samples for each autonomous community in both cases. National results and others for each autonomous community are provided for women and national results are provided for men.
For more information, please go to the Standardised Methodological Report.
INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information on Quality at INE and the Code of Best Practices.
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