Sociodemographic Indicators of Birth Rate in a Low Fertility Country–A Nationwide Study of 310 Finnish Municipalities Covering > 5,000,000 Inhabitants

Abstract

Background and Aims: Declining fertility is a key driver behind the rapid aging of populations worldwide. Finland has experienced a 25% decline in fertility from 2010 to date and ranks low even on the European and Nordic scales. This study aimed to address the association between sociodemographic indicators and birth rate (i.e., live births relative to total population) in Finland.Methods: Open data on 310 Finnish municipalities were retrieved from the public database of Statistics Finland. Several sociodemographic subdimensions (population structure, education and income, location and living, divorces, car ownership rate, and crime rate), each converted to standard deviation units, were modeled against birth rate at the municipality level using generalized estimating equations.Results: In this dataset, average annual birth rate was 8.8 per 1,000 individuals. Birth rate was positively associated with change in population size (rate ratio 1.06, 95% confidence interval 1.04−1.08), percentage of <15-year-olds (1.29, 1.22−1.36), percentage of individuals living in their birth municipality (1.05, 1.03−1.08), and percentage of foreign language speakers (1.02, 1.01−1.04). In contrast, birth rate was negatively associated with percentage of ≥65-year-olds (0.90, 0.85−0.96), percentage of unemployed individuals (0.98. 0.95−0.99), income (0.92, 0.89−0.96), and number of individuals living in the same household unit (0.94, 0.90−0.98).Conclusion: The present findings are expected to advance the allocation of resources to areas and subpopulations that have high or low birth rate, and thus contribute to the development of a more family-friendly society. Future studies are encouraged to evaluate the sociodemographic indicators of birth rate in other low fertility countries, and to address the individual-level mechanisms behind the municipality-level associations identified in this study.

Sociodemographic Indicators of Child and Adolescent Mortality in Finland—A Nationwide Study of 310 Municipalities Covering Over 5,000,000 Inhabitants

“…Both the previous evidence of foreign language speakers associating with higher birth rate (18) and the present association between foreign language speakers and lower child and adolescent mortality underline the positive contribution of this population group to the Finnish demography and child wellbeing. There are also previous reports of lower child mortality among foreign language speakers from Canada (26) and the USA (27).…”

“…Detailed descriptions of the sociodemographic variables have been provided in Supplementary Table 1 and a previous publication (18). In brief, StatFin is a database for official national statistics collected from various authorities.…”

Fertility Intention to Have a Third Child in China following the Three-Child Policy: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…According to documents published by the United Nations, fertility rates in many middle- and high-income countries have fallen below-replacement fertility levels (under 2.1 births per woman) by 2020 [ 3 ]. Fertility decline is the main driver behind the rapid aging of the global population [ 4 ]. Sustained below-replacement fertility produces a population with relatively fewer young people and more old people [ 5 ].…”

The role of uterus mitochondrial function in high-fat diet-related adverse pregnancy outcomes and protection by resveratrol

“…2 It is noteworthy that elevated consumption of dietary fat contributes to the disruption of body fat metabolism, exacerbates maternal metabolic syndrome, heightens the likelihood of dystocia, 3 and adversely affects placental function and fetal development. 4 Given the ongoing decline in global birth and fertility rates, 5 and the increase in “late childbirth”, 6 it is crucial to implement effective and safe dietary interventions that can mitigate adverse pregnancy outcomes while maintaining the necessary energy intake for maternal health.…”