Record number of multiple births

Norway recorded 960 multiple births in 1997, the equivalent of 16.3 multiple births per 1,000 births. This is the highest ratio ever registered. The number of live births totalled 59,800, somewhat lower than most of the previous eight years. At the same time the number of stillbirths dropped to the lowest level ever registered.

The number of twin births increased from 886 in 1996 to 931 in 1997. In addition, 28 sets of triplets and one set of quadruplets were born.

1997 went down as yet another year of around 60,000 births. Since the end of the 1980s the number of annual births has been stable, after rising significantly in the mid-80s. This stable trend will soon change because smaller cohorts (age groups) of women in the years to come will pull down the number of births.

The number of live births in 1997 dropped by 1,100 compared to the year before. The entire decline occurred in the fourth quarter. Because the number of births at the end of the year has varied more than usual over the past three to four years, it is still too soon to say whether the low birth numbers in the fourth quarter of last year and January this year indicate that the trend toward significantly lower birth numbers and fertility has already taken hold.

Age of new mothers increasing

Two factors affect the average age of women when they give birth: the first is how the women spread the births over their childbearing years and the second is the age distribution of women of childbearing age.

Women are delaying childbirth more and more. The average age of new mothers was 27 in 1997, an increase of 0.3 year from the year before. The fertility rate of the youngest women has thus declined, while the fertility of women aged 35 and up is climbing. Women aged 35-39 are nearly twice as "fertile" today as they were 20 years ago. Fertility is nevertheless clearly highest between the ages of 25 and 29.

New Statistics

Population statistics. Births, 1997.
Statistics are published every year in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics, Current Population Data and in Official Statistics of Norway (NOS) Population Statistics. Overview. For more information, contact: even.hoydahl@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 51 48, or kirsten.dybendal@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 52 96.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 22, 1998