Overview
- Births in Argentina fell nearly in half from 777,012 to 413,135 between 2014 and 2024, producing total fertility rates around 1.2–1.4 children per woman, well below the 2.1 replacement level.
- UNFPA surveys and demographers say the main drivers are material limits on family formation, not a single policy, with respondents citing inability to provide economic wellbeing, secure housing and time for childcare.
- Adolescent pregnancies have dropped sharply thanks to sustained public programs such as Education Sexual Integral, contraceptive access and Plan ENIA, reducing births among 15–19 year olds and contributing substantially to the overall decline.
- Legalization of abortion in 2020 expanded safe interruption services and coincided with a fall in maternal deaths from unsafe abortions, but experts and UN reports find no evidence that the 2020 law is the primary cause of the long‑term fertility decline.
- Health providers have already reorganized maternity and neonatal capacity in response to lower delivery volumes and experts warn that continued low fertility will accelerate ageing, pressuring schools, the labor market, pensions and eldercare in coming decades.