25/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - With an increase of 0.1% in 1999, the European population (812 million) is increasingly tending towards zero growth, says the Council of Europe's annual demographic survey published on Tuesday. This tendency should, however, reverse. Eastern Europe continues, however, to be characterized by the highest levels of mortality on the continent and the lowest level of births. It is in the north and west of the continent (Ireland, the Netherlands, Iceland, Norway), however, that the strongest increase in the level of fertility was recorded. Fertility is said to increase in countries that have pursued equal opportunity policies towards women, so as to enable them to reconcile family and professional life.