Live Births in Norway Continue to Decline in 2023

Q1 witnessed the lowest no. of live births since record-keeping began in 1967, and legacy media continues its silence

As reported by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (Folkehelseinstituttet), preliminary data for the first six months of 2023 are now available:

In the first half of 2023, 26,327 new Norwegians were born, a slight decrease of 0.4% compared with the same period in 2022.

For background, please check out my piece about last year’s nosedive in live births (-10% yoy):

Covid in Norway: Live Births Nosedive (-10%) in 2022, Marking a Record Low Unseen in the Past 25 Years

What the IPH isn’t telling you here is that 2022 witnessed the lowest number of live births in a quarter-century.

Unlike last year’s quite shocking decline in live births, though, there is zero coverage in legacy media about yet another decline. Of course, as related in the above-linked piece, politicians and society is in widespread denial of even raising the possibility of the Covid injections having a hand in this; instead, other things are elevated to account for the sudden und unexpected 10% decline in live births, including ‘excessive family planning’ and the fact that Norway’s generous child support payments are, well, misdirected:

‘The main problem is a system of financial child support that favours middle-aged women in well-paid jobs’, as one gynaecologist put it.

None of these issues play any role at the present moment, though, hence it is expected that Norway will continue to delude itself a wee bit longer.

From the IPH’s press release (my translation and emphases), which gives away even more disturbing information:

In the first quarter, from January to March 2023, 12,476 children were born, the lowest number since the Medical Birth Registry started its registrations in 1967. In the second quarter of 2023, however, the birth rate rebounded to 13,851, a 3% increase from the same period last year.

In 2021, during the pandemic, birth rates in Norway increased and 56,678 children were born that year. In 2022, the pre-pandemic trend of falling birth rates continued and 52,011 new Norwegians were born.

The decline in births in the first quarter is seen in all four Norwegian health regions, but Helse Nord RHF stands out with the smallest decline and the largest increase in the following months. The number of births in the first half of the year increased in Helse Nord RHF compared to last year (2.3%), while the figures in Helse Vest RHF decreased (2.8%).

Women are Getting Older When They have their Children

The reasons for falling birth rates are complex. The discussion often emphasises that women are getting older before they have children. Many countries in Europe have had low birth rates for longer than Norway, and in southern Europe the average age of first-time mothers is now between 31 and 32 years. [line break added]

Figures from the [Norwegian] Medical Birth Registry show that in the first half of 2023, the average age of women having their first child crept up to 30.2 years from 30.1 last year, while the age of women giving birth more than once rose from 32.6 years in 2022 to 32.9 years in the same half of 2023. Ten years ago, the corresponding figures were 28.7 years for those having their first child and 31.9 years for multiparous women. The trend of increasing age for both primiparous and multiparous women in Norway thus looks set to continue in 2023.

For those interested in checking out the (preliminary) data themselves, here is the data.