Finland witnesses lowest number of births ever recorded

2nd August 2023

The number of births in Finland reached a record low in the first half of this year, according to Statistics Finland. This is despite the Finnish population being far higher than it was a century ago.

In the past six months, Finland witnessed the lowest number of births in its entire recorded history since 1900, with 21,180 live births, a decrease of 1,082 compared to the same period last year.

Over the past 12 months, the total fertility rate dropped to 1.28, down from 1.87 in 2010 and 1.35 in 2019, the number-crunching agency said in a press release on Thursday. Replacement level is 2.1.

The total fertility rate indicates the average number of children a person would give birth to in their lifetime if the birth rate remained at the same level as during the calculation period.

Finland’s fertility rate was on a long, steady decline until the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, when there was a slight increase in births, but then the decline resumed last year.

The Iona Institute
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