Little Ellinor was born on one of the first days of the year at Haukeland hospital, and she stretches a curly index finger in the air when you touch her. She clings to the world around her. It is also a poignant moment to be in a maternity ward with a brand new life ahead of you. Mother Vilde (23) and father Fredrik (26) are both in permanent jobs, have bought a flat and were ready to expand their family. First of the bunch to have children – I am among the first of my school friends to have children, but it feels right, says Vilde. She is a trained nurse in a permanent job and smiles at her partner. – This is the most meaningful thing I have experienced in my entire life, says Fredrik. He is also a nurse and knows the hospital departments inside and out. What they both have in common is that the stay in the maternity ward is a first-time experience. Vilde, Ellinor and Fredrik are not quite settled after giving birth – they have everything ready for the young girl to get what she needs in life. House, job and station wagon. Photo: John Inge Johansen / news Not planned Both have thought about this with children, without it being directly planned that it should happen right now. – I made a video recording when he found out that I was pregnant. It was quite a reaction, says Vilde and laughs. But fewer and fewer do like Vilde and Fredrik. Birth rates have been declining for a long time, with one curious exception: the Koronakullet. The number of births in 2021 was as strong as in 2017, and this is felt in all health regions. If you ignore that year, there is now more than a leveling off in the birth numbers. Check your region Every year figures are published in the Medical Birth Register with details of how the activity has been in the country’s many maternity wards and maternity wards. We have been impatient this year, calling every hospital department to find out how last year went. Here you can see what the result was in your region: The fact that we are sitting with now is good news for the northerners, who have an increase compared to the previous year, while other regions have a decrease or that almost the same number of children were born in the two last years. Facts about the data collection The figures are not quality assured, which means that it is possible to misunderstand the question that was asked of the various maternity units. “How many children were born in your ward last year”, was the question we asked. But maternity wards operate both with the number of births (which can be twin or multiple births), the number of children and also the number of stillbirths. All the numbers are registered in the medical birth register, which is quality assured and updated some time into the new year. These figures also include some home births that are not registered at a single institution. Here, too, the trend is downward. In 2016, there were 175 children who were not registered in a maternity ward, in 2022 there were 108. We do not have any overview for 2023. We have called 46 maternity wards and spoken to midwives on duty, communication departments, clinic managers and substitutes. We have praised them for the incredibly important work they do for children and parents, and for society. The National Hospital’s figures are only updated as of November 2023, it has not been possible to obtain updated figures despite repeated inquiries. Reversing the trend? Researcher at Statistics Norway (SSB), Lars Dommermuth, may think the numbers are about to turn around, but says it is too early to establish that this is a trend. – We may have reached rock bottom in the number of births, and that we may want to see an even more stable number in 2024, or even a small increase, says the researcher. Lars Dommermuth is a researcher at Statistics Norway and has researched the reasons why Norwegian women wait longer to have children and have fewer than before. Photo: SSB – What are you most excited about in the numerical material that will eventually become available for you to research? – On whether we see a change in the age of those having their first birth, and whether we again see an increase in first births. In the last ten years, people have postponed their first birth and thus had their first child later. news’s data collection does not include the so-called demographic details about the age of the mother, municipality of residence or whether this is the first child. We only have the total birth figures for the entire country. – But the first child is the most important? – Yes. In Norway, it is still the case that most people who have their first child also have their second child, says Dommermuth. – We have a fairly small proportion who have only one child, so that is the critical transition. If women and men have their first child first, there is a fairly high probability that they will also have a second child. The proportion who got third and fourth has decreased, says the researcher. Hospitals and maternity wards in the West have overall seen a decline, but in Stavanger 17 more citizens were born last year compared to 2022. Voss was also able to welcome 11 more than the previous year, and 3 more in Stord. Otherwise, there was a decline. The hospitals in eastern Norway naturally receive the vast majority of the country’s new residents. 29,000 of the more than 51,000 who were born last year were born in this hospital region. Our figures are updated with all units as close as Rikshospitalet. Here we only have figures per November 2023, and on average around 150 children are born here in December. These numbers are so small that they have little impact on the statistics. Both Volda and Namsos could boast a slight increase in the number of births in 2023, but a total of 6,997 children were born for the health authority. This is a decrease of 62 from the previous year. The only region with a marked increase in relation to the population is the northerners. They have taken the birth rate back to 2019 levels (if we still turn a blind eye to the pandemic). Last year, 161 more northerners were born than in 2022. In the vast majority of hospitals, there have been more – and in all maternity units in Finnmark there has been an increase, which was already clear during the autumn of last year. So what does the negative trend come from? Researchers have pointed out that economic uncertainty, general fear of how the world is developing and high unemployment have an impact on the desire to have children. In addition, there are many who believe that there are enough children in the world already and that they would rather put their effort into helping there than having children of their own. Still others want to have everything from work and house in place before they have children – and still others do not have the opportunity to have children themselves, no matter how much they want it. Stable birth rates are important for the age composition of a population in the long term, says the researcher. But: – Is there any connection between having your first and second child, then getting a dog instead of child number three? – That is a good question. We have actually discussed it several times during the lunch break, but unfortunately we do not have any good figures, statistics or information about it, says Lars Dommermuth at SSB. The case was updated on 10 January 2024 with complete figures from all maternity units back to 2018.
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Fewer children are born, but now the curve is flattening. – news Vestland
