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The Point: A Nordic Baby Boom?
Breakpoint
English - February 07, 2022 17:00 - 1 minute - 736 KB - ★★★★★ - 2.6K ratingsChristianity Religion & Spirituality News News Commentary christianity culture currentevents news politics worldview Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Several Nordic countries that, for decades, have had among the world’s lowest birthrates, experienced a babyboom during the pandemic. In the second half of 2021, Iceland saw an incredible 16.5% more births than usual, and Finland and Norway experienced 7 and 5% more births, respectively.
Typically, a global crisis results in lower fertility rates. In the U.S., for example, the birthrate dropped by 4%. In China, it was a staggering 15%. For years, Nordic countries have offered generous incentives to increase child births, to little effect, as have other European nations that did not see a similar boom during the pandemic. So, money can’t explain it.
Perhaps for some, the pandemic highlighted what really matters.
One Icelandic mom of teenagers said: “We would just have conversations about everything and nothing and have fun and laugh. … I think that was the tipping point for me. I realized I wasn’t ready to be done with the mom thing.”
The mom thing—and the dad thing—is a good thing.