{"id":194607,"date":"2019-01-24T12:55:14","date_gmt":"2019-01-24T18:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=194607"},"modified":"2019-01-25T20:05:51","modified_gmt":"2019-01-26T02:05:51","slug":"norway-fertility-decline-threatens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/norway-fertility-decline-threatens\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Norway needs more children!’ Fertility drop threatens nation’s welfare system"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Birth rates have dropped to a historic low<\/a> in Nordic countries, most specifically Norway, and are now well below the level needed to maintain a stable population.\u00a0The drastic drop has caused the prime minister of Norway to ask citizens to have more babies.\u00a0In 2017, birth rates across Nordic countries declined to 1.49 from 1.71 children born per woman. In order to keep population levels stable, the rate of children born per woman needs to be at 2.1. The first few months of 2018 brought about the\u00a0lowest birth rate in Norway in 33 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Birth rates began to decline after a financial crisis occurred\u00a0in 2008, but they have yet to bounce back as the economy did.\u00a0A mere decade ago, Norway’s birth rate of 1.98 children<\/a> per woman made it one of the most fertile countries in Europe, despite it still being below the replacement rate.<\/p>\n

READ: Nearly half of countries have \u2018insufficient children\u2019 to maintain populations<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

“Norway needs more children! I don’t think I need to tell anyone how this is done,” Prime Minister\u00a0Erna Solberg candidly told Norwegians. “… In the coming decades, we will encounter problems with this model. There will be fewer young people to bear the increasingly heavy burden of the welfare state.”<\/p>\n

Norway’s welfare model is funded by taxpayers, and with so few children being born, the number of future taxpayers will be too few to support the system as it stands. That system is a generous one, which includes affordable day cares, flexible work schedules, and\u00a0paid parental leave.<\/p>\n

“Birth rates up to and including the third quarter are at a lower level than in 2017,” Espen Andersen, the adviser in Statistics Norway told Norway Today<\/a>. “In the first three quarters [of 2018], more than 1,100 fewer children were born than in the corresponding period in 2017.”<\/p>\n