Europe News Desk!! According to official data, Finland is set to record 1.32 births per woman in 2022, the lowest level since record-keeping began in 1776. Statistics Finland said the figure was 1.46 in 2021, Xinhua news agency reported. In 2022, 44,951 babies will be born in Finland. Statistics Finland said the main reason for the drop was that families chose not to have a second or third child. In recent years, the proportion of firstborns among newborns has increased slightly. While 41 percent of those born in 2018 were preterm, this proportion is expected to increase to 43 percent in 2022. However, there has been a decrease in the number of second and third born children as compared to first born children. Of the children born in 2022, 19,500 were first children, 14,900 were second children, 6,100 were third children and about 4,400 were born fourth and later. In 2022, almost half of the children were born to unmarried couples. Their proportion has increased since the 1970s. The highest growth was marked in the 1980s and 1990s, from 13 percent to 39 percent. In 2022, up to 49 percent of children were born through unmarried couples. The birth rate in Finland has been falling steadily for almost a decade. This figure fell from 1.87 births per woman in 2010 to 1.35 in 2019. A brief increase in births was observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the fertility rate increased from 1.35 children per woman in 2019 to 1.46 in 2021.
–IANS
World News Desk!!
PK/CBT