Europe faces falling birth rates - Reuters

Fertility rates in Europe are falling despite family-friendly policies, writes Reuters, reports UNN.

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According to demographers and economists, Europe's attempts to boost falling fertility rates are falling short of the mark. They call for a rethink, including a change of course to accept and embrace the economic realities of an aging population.

Over the past decade, Europe's fertility rate has been stuck at 1.5 births per woman. That's above the minimum seen in East Asia, but far from the 2.1 needed to maintain population levels - a level that Anna Matysiak, an associate professor of labor market and family dynamics at the University of Warsaw, and other experts interviewed by Reuters consider unlikely in the foreseeable future.

European governments are already spending billions of euros beyond basic social security to fund child protection measures ranging from direct cash incentives for children to tax breaks for large families, paid parental leave and child allowances.

But even in countries such as France and the Czech Republic, where the fertility rate was relatively high in previous years (around 1.8), it is now falling. The reasons vary from continent to continent and in some cases are not fully understood.

Marta Seys, professor of sociology of family, demography and inequality at the University of Madrid, said factors such as rising housing costs and job insecurity are linked to Spain's birth rate of 1.19, the second lowest in Europe after Malta.

Such economic constraints are felt everywhere. But there is also evidence of a deeper cultural shift in attitudes towards parenthood.

In Norway, a wealthy country with strong family support and job security, the fertility rate has fallen from 2 in 2009 to 1.41 by 2022, the lowest level ever recorded.

In the 2023 Country Outlook, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) suggested reasons for the decline, including changing gender roles, a greater emphasis on careers, and even how social media can increase insecurity. However, it concluded that the decline remains a mystery.

Finnish demographer, research professor and director of the Finnish Population Research Institute Anna Rotkirch has also seen a profound cultural shift in surveys assessing similar fertility declines in her country: many young people now see a fundamental trade-off between parenthood and other goals.

Rotkirch emphasized that there is still a need for family policies to support the decisions of expectant parents, but called for a much broader discussion about how to address the problem of low fertility, which she said traditional family policies alone will not fix.