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Strict hygienic measures in the delivery room: The data from 19 European countries and the USA show "strong declines in births" since October 2020
Photo: Waltraud Grubitzsch / dpa
According to the United Nations, the number of newborns in Europe and the USA fell significantly during the corona pandemic. According to a study by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the results of which are available to the dpa news agency, "Changes in the human birth rate are never obvious in the short term after a nine-month pregnancy, but as the pandemic continues, the decline in birth rates becomes more and more apparent." The UNFPA plans to publish the study on World Population Day on July 11th.
Since October 2020, the data from 19 European countries and the USA have shown »strong declines in births« compared to the same months of the previous year.
In the 15 EU countries studied alone, the number of babies fell by 3 in October, by 5 in November and by 8.1 percent in December 2020.
Rachel Snow, UNFPA's leading population expert, explains: "Most people would rather have fewer children in uncertain times - and the question is whether they have the means".
This requirement is certainly given in Europe.
Significant decline in Spain, hardly any fluctuations in Scandinavia
Spain posted a 20 percent decline in January and France 13.5 percent.
But the differences in Europe are clear: According to UNFPA, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Norway do not experience any major fluctuations.
For expert Snow, however, the factors for falling births are too numerous to explain the intra-European differences - it is still too early for definitive conclusions.
However, she emphasized that the Scandinavian countries in particular are generally more stable, "while on the other hand Portugal, Spain and Italy are countries that had already recorded a declining birth rate before the pandemic." The UNFPA study does not list any separate data for Germany .
According to the report, the impact of the pandemic is also clear in the USA.
In the state of California, 10.5 percent fewer babies were born in January compared to the same month last year - in Florida it was 7.2.
In addition, surveys in the United States have suggested that couples purposely put pregnancy plans on hold and had less sex.
Internet searches on pregnancy-related topics have also decreased.
Opposite development in less developed countries
On the other hand, there are signs of the opposite trend in some less developed countries, the report says.
According to Snow, people there are less able to reduce the number of births if they want to because of poor access to contraceptives and sexual education.
"We are now seeing that in Bangladesh and we have observed an increase in teenage pregnancies in Malawi, and there are similar indications from Mexico."
The UN Population Agency generally points out that many crises in human history have led to a temporary decline in births in the regions affected and that there has often been a recovery afterwards.
Although every crisis is different, said Snow, there is no need to worry about Corona: “Don't panic that the world will suddenly be deserted because of Covid and the birth rate will fall.
It can go down for a while, but it can also recover quickly. ”What is more important is that all people can have control over whether or not they have children.
asc / dpa
