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Are family-friendly policies no longer enough?
Birth rates are falling in the Nordics and Finnish demographer Anna Rotkirch suggests that we may need a societal rethink.
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It once was a sacrifice not to have children; now, starting a family means sacrificing independence, says the writer.
PHOTO: PEXELS
Henry Mance
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Twenty years ago, Finland appeared to have it all. The birth rate was rising and the proportion of women in the labour force was high. Policymakers from around the world, including Britain and East Asia, came to learn about the Nordic model behind it: world-class maternity care, generous parental leave and a right to pre-school childcare.
But maybe they got it wrong. Despite all the support offered to parents, Finland’s fertility rate has fallen nearly a third since 2010. It is now below Britain’s, where the social safety net is more limited, and only slightly above Italy’s, where traditional gender roles persist.
