Fertility declined to record low

Published:

A total of 56 600 children were born in 2017, 2 300 fewer than 2016. This gives a total fertility rate (TRF) for women of 1.62. This is the lowest level ever registered.

In 2009, the total fertility rate (TRF) was 1.98. Since then, the fertility rate has declined. The decline from 1.71 in 2016 to 1.62 in 2017 is significantly greater than the years before. Such changes in the total fertility rate from one year to another are not usual but it has happened before. For example, from 1974 to 1975 the fertility rate decreased from 2.13 to 1.98.

Figure 1. Total fertility rate (TRF) women 1970-2017

SFT
1970 2.50
1971 2.49
1972 2.38
1973 2.23
1974 2.13
1975 1.98
1976 1.86
1977 1.75
1978 1.77
1979 1.75
1980 1.72
1981 1.70
1982 1.71
1983 1.66
1984 1.66
1985 1.68
1986 1.71
1987 1.75
1988 1.84
1989 1.89
1990 1.93
1991 1.92
1992 1.89
1993 1.86
1994 1.87
1995 1.87
1996 1.89
1997 1.86
1998 1.81
1999 1.85
2000 1.85
2001 1.78
2002 1.75
2003 1.80
2004 1.83
2005 1.84
2006 1.90
2007 1.90
2008 1.96
2009 1.98
2010 1.95
2011 1.88
2012 1.85
2013 1.78
2014 1.76
2015 1.73
2016 1.71
2017 1.62

Compared to 2016, the fertility rate has decreased for all age groups in 2017. Women aged 31-34 years are still the most fertile, and women aged 25-29 years had the second highest fertility rate.

Figure 2. Age-specific fertility rates ,women. 1986-2017

15-19 years 20-24 years 25-29 years 30-34 years 35-39 years 40-44 years 45-49 years
1986 18.2 93.2 129.4 74.4 22.2 4.1 0.2
1987 17.7 91.0 131.7 79.7 24.6 4.1 0.3
1988 18.2 94.3 138.6 85.1 27.7 4.6 0.2
1989 17.7 94.0 140.6 91.3 29.7 4.4 0.1
1990 17.1 93.4 144.0 95.2 32.3 4.7 0.3
1991 16.7 89.7 140.3 98.3 34.3 5.1 0.2
1992 16.0 85.7 137.5 98.3 35.2 5.3 0.2
1993 15.0 81.8 134.8 99.0 37.1 5.7 0.3
1994 14.4 77.9 135.7 101.6 39.1 5.8 0.2
1995 13.5 77.5 134.3 103.6 40.2 6.2 0.2
1996 13.5 75.3 135.9 106.7 41.4 6.5 0.2
1997 12.7 72.6 131.6 106.3 42.8 6.9 0.2
1998 12.4 68.7 128.2 105.0 43.3 6.9 0.2
1999 11.7 68.3 129.3 110.3 44.2 7.0 0.2
2000 11.7 67.3 129.3 110.5 45.7 7.3 0.2
2001 11.0 62.7 123.6 107.9 45.6 7.0 0.3
2002 10.1 59.5 121.0 109.3 44.1 7.7 0.2
2003 9.1 58.9 123.6 113.2 47.5 7.7 0.3
2004 8.2 59.6 123.9 117.1 49.1 7.9 0.3
2005 8.0 58.6 124.4 118.6 48.6 8.6 0.4
2006 8.7 60.3 127.2 122.8 51.9 8.9 0.4
2007 9.1 60.5 122.3 123.2 54.1 9.7 0.4
2008 9.3 62.0 127.0 125.6 56.1 9.8 0.4
2009 9.5 61.4 128.1 127.2 58.3 10.2 0.5
2010 8.4 59.0 124.0 128.0 57.7 10.8 0.6
2011 7.1 54.3 120.7 123.9 57.8 10.9 0.6
2012 6.0 52.6 117.8 123.7 58.3 10.6 0.6
2013 5.6 48.4 113.5 120.4 56.8 10.7 0.5
2014 5.0 44.9 110.3 120.5 58.4 11.1 0.7
2015 4.6 42.4 109.7 117.6 60.1 11.1 0.8
2016 3.9 39.5 107.2 119.3 59.2 11.7 0.7
2017 3.0 34.7 103.0 115.6 56.5 11.6 0.7

Age upon giving birth is increasing

The mean age for a woman at the first child’s birth was 29.3 years, an increase of 0.3 year compared to 2016. Thirty years ago, the corresponding age was about 25 years. For men, the mean age at their first child’s birth was 31.7 years. The mean age for all births is also increasing, and was 30.9 years for women and 33.8 years for men in 2017.

Stable share of multiple births

Of 55 900 births in 2017, there were 878 sets of twins and 13 sets of triplets, which corresponds to 15.9 multiple births per 1 000 births. This is the same share as last year.

Decrease in late foetal deaths

In 2017, the number of late foetal deaths was 139. This corresponds to 2.4 late foetal deaths per 1 000 births. This is the lowest share ever registered.

Figure 3. Late foetal deaths per 1 000 births 1951-2017

Per 1 000
1951- 1955 15.2
1956- 1960 14.3
1961- 1965 12.4
1966- 1970 11.1
1971- 1975 9.0
1976- 1980 7.2
1981- 1985 5.8
1986- 1990 4.7
1991- 1995 4.3
1996- 2000 4.1
2001- 2005 3.7
2006- 2010 3.5
2011- 2015 3.1
2016 3.1
2017 2.4

 

 

 

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