Most Bulgarian women are, on average, just over 26.5 years of age when they give birth for the first time, which makes them the youngest mums in the European Union, according to the latest Eurostat Demography Report.

The commission's biennial Demography Report for 2010 shows that Irish mothers are the oldest among the countries from the European bloc. Romania has the second-youngest mums in the EU at 26.9 years.

The European average age for women giving birth is 29.7.

Bulgaria has registered the largest increase of its fertility rate in the EU for the 2003 – 2008 period - from 1.23 children per woman in 2003 to 1.57 in 2009, according to the report.

The European Union, with a population of half a billion, is facing important demographic changes, the report says.

While the population is getting older, fertility has begun to increase again, life expectancy keeps growing and the EU continues to attract a large number of immigrants, it points out.

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