Yahoo – AFP,
Pierre-Henry DESHAYES with the AFP bureaux in the Nordic region, 17 January 2019
 |
Norway's prime minister has underscored a growing concern: fewer and
fewer babies are being born in Northern Europe |
"Norway
needs more children! I don't think I need to tell anyone how this is
done," Norway's prime minister said cheekily, but she was raising a real
concern.
Too few
babies are being born in the Nordic region.
The Nordic
countries were long a bastion of strong fertility rates on an Old Continent
that is rapidly getting older.
But they
are now experiencing a decline that threatens their cherished welfare model,
which is funded by taxpayers.
"In
the coming decades, we will encounter problems with this model," Prime
Minister Erna Solberg warned Norwegians in her New Year's speech.
"There
will be fewer young people to bear the increasingly heavy burden of the welfare
state."
In Norway,
Finland and Iceland, birth rates dropped to historic lows in 2017, with 1.49 to
1.71 children born per woman. Just a few years earlier, their birth rates
hovered close to the 2.1 level required for their populations to remain stable.
"In
all of the Nordic countries, birth rates started dropping in the years after
the 2008 financial crisis," University of Oslo sociologist Trude Lappegard
told AFP.
"The
crisis is over now but it's still falling."
From
Copenhagen to the North Cape, from Helsinki to Reykjavik, demographics across
the Nordics reveal two things: there are fewer large families, and women are
waiting longer before having their first child.
There's no
single explanation, but financial uncertainty and a sharp rise in housing costs
are seen as likely factors.
 |
An
economist in Norway has suggested that women be given 500,000 kroner
(50,000
euros, $58,550) in pension savings for each child born
|
In the long
term, this means there will be fewer people of working age to pay taxes that
fund the generous state welfare systems.
These
systems pay for, among other things, lengthy parental leaves, which in Sweden
can last up to 480 days.
Paying
for pregnancies
Experts
present differing diagnoses and prescriptions to remedy the situation.
In Norway,
one economist concerned about the effect the slowing demographics will have on
economic growth has suggested giving women 500,000 kroner (50,000 euros,
$58,550) in pension savings for each child born.
Another has
suggested that, on the contrary, women in Norway who reach the age of 50 without
having had a child should be paid one million kroner, since children also cost
society a lot.
Finnish
municipalities have already decided to loosen their purse strings to encourage
locals to get busy under the covers.
The town of
Miehikkala, home to 2,000 people, is offering 10,000 euros for each baby born
and raised in the municipality.
"The
number of childless individuals is growing rapidly, and the number of women
having three or more children is going down. This kind of fall is unheard of in
modern times in Finland," said Anna Rotkirch, a family sociologist at the
umbrella organisation Finnish Family Federation.
In Denmark,
Copenhagen has meanwhile turned its attention to men, who are in less of a
hurry to become parents than women, with a campaign aimed at raising awareness
about how sperm quality declines with age.
 |
Syrian
refugees Walaa Al Hodl,(L), and Kahled Al Hodl applied
for asylum in Sweden
with their six-month-old girl Nour in 2013
|
Immigration boost
The Nordic
region already boasts a wealth of family-friendly initiatives, such as flexible
working hours, a vast network of affordable daycares and generous parental
leave systems.
But when
all that is still not enough to encourage people to have more children,
immigration can be a lifeline -- or a threat, depending on the point of view.
Sweden may
have a falling birth rate, but it still comes in second in the EU behind France
with 1.85 children born per woman in 2016.
That is
largely due to Sweden's decades-long history of immigration: immigrant women
tend to have more children than the average Swede.
With 2.6
children per woman in recent years, the town of Aneby in southern Sweden has
one of the highest rates in the country, a phenomenon attributed to the fact
that it opened its doors to immigrants two decades ago.
"Aneby
welcomed around 225 Eritreans in the early 1990s and just after that (it took
in) refugees from the Balkans. 1994 was a demographic record for the
town," local official Ola Gustafsson told AFP.
But
population growth among minorities has also fuelled fears.
A former justice
minister in Norway, Per-Willy Amundsen of the populist far-right, made
headlines when he called for family allowances to be reduced after a third
child.
His stated
goal was to stop Somalis who, he said, had a higher "birth
production" rate than "ethnic Norwegians".
Related Article:
"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)
“… 3 - Longer Life is Going to Happen, But…
Here is one that is a review. We keep bringing it up because Humans don't believe it. If you're going to start living longer, there are those who are frightened that there will be overpopulation. You've seen the way it is so far, and the geometric progression of mathematics is absolute and you cannot change it. So if you look at the population of the earth and how much it has shifted in the last two decades, it's frightening to you. What would change that progression?
The answer is simple, but requires a change in thinking. The answer is a civilization on the planet who understands a new survival scenario. Instead of a basic population who has been told to have a lot of children to enhance the race [old survival], they begin to understand the logic of a new scenario. The Akashic wisdom of the ages will start to creep in with a basic survival scenario shift. Not every single woman will look at herself and say, "The clock is ticking," but instead can say, "I have been a mother 14 times in a row. I'm going to sit this one out." It's a woman who understands that there is no loss or guilt in this, and actually feels that the new survival attribute is to keep the family small or not at all! Also, as we have said before, even those who are currently ignorant of population control will figure out what is causing babies to be born [Kryon joke].
Part of the new Africa will be education and healing, and eventually a zero population growth, just like some of the first-world nations currently have. Those who are currently tied to a spiritual doctrine will actually have that doctrine changed (watch for it) regarding Human birth. Then they will be able to make free choice that is appropriate even within the establishment of organized religion. You see, things are going to change where common sense will say, "Perhaps it would help the planet if I didn't have children or perhaps just one child." Then the obvious, "Perhaps I can exist economically better and be wiser with just one. It will help the one!" Watch for these changes. For those of you who are steeped in the tradition of the doctrines and would say that sounds outrageously impossible, I give you the new coming pope [Kryon smile]. For those of you who feel that uncontrolled procreation is inevitable, I encourage you to see statistics you haven't seen or didn't care to look at yet about what first-world countries have already accomplished on their own, without any mandates. It's already happening. That was number three.….”
