Dwindling Germans review policies

In the latest in our series about motherhood and the role of the state in encouraging couples to have more children, the BBC's Tristana Moore in Berlin has been meeting women to find out why Germany has one of the lowest birth rates in Europe.

"Baby shock: Germans are dying out." This headline was recently splashed across the front page of Bild, Germany's biggest-selling tabloid.

It came as the Federal Statistics Office published preliminary figures showing around 676,000 children were born in Germany in 2005 - 4.2% lower than in 2004. Compare that with the figures after World War II: in 1946, 922,000 babies were born.

A German woman has on average 1.37 children during her lifetime, well below the replacement level of 2.1 births per woman.

By the most widely used measure of birth rates in Germany - the number of births per 1,000 heads of population - Germany is right at the bottom of the table of European nations.

For years, demographers and politicians have warned about the dangers of a declining birth rate and ageing population. But the recent statistics make uncomfortable reading, and it's prompted a passionate debate in the German media.

Elisabeth Boele, 38, has two children - four-year-old Jonas, and Anton, who is two.

'Male workaholics'

"Children are very important. It's definitely altered my attitude towards life," said Elisabeth.

"I've just changed jobs because it was too difficult to combine my former job as a lawyer in an international law firm with my children and family life.

"It's sometimes hard to convince male workaholics that the family has priority on weekends. I'll now start a job where I get paid less and which is hopefully less demanding timewise."

And what about attitudes to women in the workplace?