Birth rates in Europe fell by 14 percent in January / January 2021, compared to the same month in previous years.
A new study indicates that this decline is linked to the first general closure, to confront the Corona epidemic.
And longer lock-down periods led to an even greater decline in the number of pregnant women, the study said.
The decline in birth rates was greater in countries where health systems struggled most during the lockdown period.
Lithuania and Romania witnessed the largest declines in birth rates, reaching 28 percent and 23 percent, respectively.
As for Sweden, which did not impose any kind of closure, it recorded only a slight decline, according to the study published in the Journal of Human Reproduction, “The Journal of Human Reproduction.”
The researchers say this may have long-term consequences for demographics, especially in Western European countries, which have large rates of older populations.
“The longer the lockdown, the lower the rate of pregnant women, during that period, even in countries that have not been severely affected by the epidemic,” said Leo Bomar, an obstetrician at Lausanne University Hospital.
He added, “We think that the couples were afraid of health and social problems during that period, of the first wave of closures, which contributed to the decline in birth rates, during the nine-month period, later.”
The study explains that the social isolation measures, and the fears of the economic crisis that resulted from it, constituted an “indirect factor that played a role in the couples’ decision to postpone the idea of pregnancy.”
England and Wales witnessed a 13 percent drop in births during the same month, compared to 2019 and 2018, while the birth rate in Scotland decreased by 14 percent.
As for France, it recorded a 14 percent decline, while Spain recorded 23 percent, in its birth rates.
And in March / March 2021, birth rates returned to the same level they were before the epidemic, and this continued for a period of 9 to 10 months following the end of the general closure periods.
But researchers say that this return to normal rates did not compensate for the loss recorded in birth rates, two months earlier.
Bomar said : The truth is that the return to normal birth rates did not compensate for the previous decline, in January / January 2021, which may lead to long-term effects on demographics, especially in Western Europe, which has a large proportion of the elderly population.
