Finnish fecundity is in decline, according to new figures from Statistics Finland. Last year 55,472 children were born, which is 1,760 fewer than in 2014. The last time this few children were born in Finland was in 1868, when just under 44,000 newborns arrived.
Finland was gripped by famine from 1866-1868, causing a dramatic decline in birth rates and the deaths of some 270,000 people of starvation.
The number of births has declined for the last five years in a row, with the biggest drops coming in the countryside provinces of Kainuu and Central Ostrobothnia.
In Kainuu, if the 2015 birth rate continues, it would correspond to an average of 1.68 children born per woman over her lifespan. That’s down from 1.98 the previous year. In Central Ostrobothnia the rate fell from 2.32 children per woman to 2.01 children.
The so-called ‘replacement rate’ at which children must be born to maintain the existing population is 2.1 children per woman.
The decline in births also had a positive effect. Last year just 97 children aged under one died—the smallest number ever recorded in Finland. That is a decline of 27 on the previous year.