Slovenia ranked last in fertility rate among the 25 EU member countries in 2004, with its women on average having only 1.22 children in their lifetime, said reports reaching here from Ljubljana on Tuesday.

Home to 1,997,600 people, Slovenia saw a 0.012 percent increase in population last year, said the Slovene Press Agency, quoting a Eurostat demographics study.

The reports said that the rate of natural increase in Slovenia was negative at -0.7 per 1,000 inhabitants, a dramatic drop from 5. 8 per 1,000 inhabitants in 1980.

Interestingly, Slovenia is among the countries with the highest number of live births outside marriage. With 43.5 percent births outside marriage, it trails only behind Estonia, Sweden, Denmark, Latvia and France.

According to the survey, population across the EU 25 countries increased by 2.3 million to 459.5 million, but the increase is the result of migration rather than birth rates.

Source: Xinhua