Birth Rate In European Countries Increases Slightly After 20-Year Decline, USA Today Reports

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 21 Aug 2007 - 12:00 PDT

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The birth rate in at least 16 European countries slightly increased from 2004 to 2006 after a 20-year decline, USA Today reports. According to USA Today, the increases are slight, but they reverse a 20-year decline that had officials "sounding alarms" about not having enough children to replenish the population and sustain economic growth.

The European Commission last year said that declining birth rates could reduce the number of working-age Europeans by 20 million annually during the next 15 years. In response, countries with low rates increasingly have begun providing more generous payouts. Spain last month approved payments of $3,400 for every new child; France pays working parents about $1,000 per month to stay at home and raise a third infant; and Germany this year began Elterngeld, a program that offers new parents 67% of their salaries for a year to stay home with infants, USA Today reports.

Scandinavian countries, which have some of the highest birth rates in Europe, give up to 18 months of parental leave and no-cost subsidized child care, as well as paying working mothers to take time off. Germany, Scotland and France recently have reported slight increases in birth rates, according to USA Today. Birth rates in Spain and Portugal are relatively stagnant, and rates in the Netherlands, Norway and Austria have dropped.

William Butz, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Population Reference Bureau, questioned the increasing rates. "Something is going on," Butz said, adding, "The uptick is real, but we don't know what is causing it or whether it will last" (Stinson, USA Today, 8/17).

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