Crisis sinks European birth rate: study

FEWER babies were born in Europe because of the world economic crisis, a study shows.

The birth rate per woman in 28 European countries sank faster on average the higher the unemployment rate rose, the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in the north-eastern German city of Rostock said in a study published in the journal Demographic Research.

The economic crisis, which began in 2008, ended a Europe-wide upswing in the birth rate, co-author Michaela Kreyenfeld said.

The trend most impacted southern European countries such as Spain and Croatia, as well as Hungary, Ireland and Latvia.

People under 25, in particular, forwent having children when faced with rising unemployment and the trend was observed most sharply in young people having their first child, the institute found.

It said that one of the biggest open questions in demographic research is the influence economic conditions have on reproduction.

The study proved that in Europe today the jobless rate in a country affects its people's willingness to have children, Kreyenfeld said.

If unemployment rises one percentage point, the birth rate per woman for 20- to 24-year-olds sinks 0.1 across the continent and 0.3 in southern Europe, she said.

The institute documented a particularly strong change in direction in Spain. The birth rate there was 1.24 children per woman at the beginning of the millennium and rose every year, reaching 1.47 in 2008, but in 2009, it fell to 1.4 as the jobless rate rose from 8.3 to 11.3 per cent. In 2011, births had fallen to 1.36 per woman.

In the Czech Republic, Poland, Britain and Italy, the economic crisis only stopped the rise in the birth rate. In Russia and Lithuania, the crisis had a small or no effect on births.

In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the crisis had little effect on the birth rate, but unemployment in those countries rose little or not at all and in Germany it sank.

The institute is investigating whether the crisis is having a continuing effect on the birth rate. So far, it has only analysed data for 2001 to 2010 and part of 2011.

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