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The Corona pandemic and raising children seem to go hand in hand in Sweden, at least so far. Displays data for the metropolitan regions of Skåne, Stockholm and Västra Götaland. The number of new participants in midwifery clinics is very similar to last year.
– In Sweden, the birth rate has fallen in recent years and I expected another drop during the pandemic, says Gunnar Andersson.
He is a professor of demography at Stockholm University and believes that the birth rate is often affected by labor market factors and feelings of anxiety. Therefore, recessions and fewer births tend to happen.
– If this is not the case during the pandemic, it is interesting. Uncertainty about the future often causes people to postpone labor, Andersson continues, noting that the actual result will only be visible for a while.
The available figures, however, suggest that the planned reduction has not yet occurred.
In the Stockholm Region, by contrast, there is a small increase in the number of newly registered pregnant women in midwifery clinics during the year, although the variation is marginal.
– During economic crises, pregnancies tend to be fewer, but instead have increased slightly. The number is above the forecast we made earlier in the year, says Lisa Ryding, operations manager for midwife clinics in South Stockholm.
If the increase would have been even greater without the pandemic, one can only speculate, he says.
– But in that case, our forecast would have been even more wrong.
Figures for the Västra Götaland region show also that the number of enrolled in midwifery clinics this year has hardly changed. Compared to 2019, it is down just under one percent.
– Some clinics have seen an increase, while others have seen a decrease. But it has nothing to do with the pandemic, it is because people are moving, says Maria Gjertsen, interim regional area manager for OB-GYN clinics.
The development is the same in the Skåne Region. The number of new enrollees in public maternity care operations in 2020 has dropped by just over one percent from the previous year, a loss that operations manager Bodil Knutson believes is due to competition rather than the pandemic. .
In addition to maternity care centers under public auspices, there are a large number of private clinics. In the Västra Götaland region, for example, there is the Midwifery Group. They too experience as high pressure as before.
– We noticed a certain decrease in March and April, but since then it has increased again. Now there are many who want to come here, says Eva Herlenius, operations manager for the Midwifery Group.
In the rest of Europe, ahead In all parts of the South, one seems to see or fear a decrease in the number of pregnancies during the pandemic. This was reported by the Reuters news agency earlier this week.
– The birth rate has dropped dramatically in southern Europe. If it falls further now, it will happen from a level that is already low, says demography professor Gunnar Andersson at Stockholm University.
– Lower birth rates mean fewer people reach working age as large cohorts retire. It has economic consequences. The difference between northern and southern Europe is a major problem, although the birth rate has also fallen here.
If childbirth turns out to be a constant in Sweden despite the corona pandemic, it may be because the downward trend here has bottomed out, Andersson believes.
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