Far fewer Norwegian women in their forties receive help with having children, compared with in our neighboring countries
There has been a doubling in the proportion of women over the age of 40 who seek assisted reproduction in all the Scandinavian countries. But Norway stands out.
More and more women and men in Europe are postponing having children.
This has been a trend for a long time. Therefore, there has also been a continuous increase in childbirths among women in the forties over the last ten years.
Compared to Scandinavia
The same is true in Scandinavia, shows a new study from a Nordic research group. They have dealt with register data from Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
The researchers have studied childbirths with and without assisted reproduction in the age group 40 to 49 years in the period 2008 to 2018.
The comparison of births in this age group between these countries has never been done before.
Interesting differences
The Nordic research group finds some interesting differences between us.
In Denmark and Sweden, childbirth has increased continuously in the 1940s. Denmark went from 9.5 to 12 births per thousand women during the period. Sweden has gone from 11.7 to 14.3.
In Norway, on the other hand, the number of births in this age group has been stable at around 11 births per thousand women.
More people get help with having a child
During this ten-year period, the proportion of women in their forties who received assisted reproduction doubled.
Here, too, the researchers find that Norway is significantly lower than the other countries.
In Denmark the proportion increased the most, from 0.71 to 1.71 and in Sweden from 0.43 to 0.81 per thousand women.
In Norway, there was also a doubling, but here the numbers are much lower. Here, it went from 0.25 to 0.53 births per thousand women after assisted reproduction.
Surprised
– It was a little surprising that there were such large differences in the proportion of births from treatment in the Scandinavian countries.
That’s what Finn Egil Skjeldestad says. He is a professor at UiT, the Norwegian Arctic University and one of the researchers behind studies that was recently published.
– This may mean that fewer women in Norway seek treatment. This may have to do with cultural differences. The Danes have had less debate about the legislation in this area. They have been more preoccupied with the positive aspects and are therefore perhaps more liberal on assisted reproduction.
The researcher does not think it can be explained by the fact that the treatment is better in the other countries.
– We can not conclude with certainty, because we do not know how many have received treatment. Her needs it more research.
Similar to the rest of Europe
Skjeldestad believes that it was interesting to study childbirth in the forties in Scandinavia because postponing having children has been a trend in the western world for a long time.
– This is a trend that started already in the 1970s.
The Nordic countries stand out a little compared to other western countries, the researchers conclude.
Education and career
Ingela Lindh is a researcher at the University of Gothenburg and has been responsible for the new studies.
She says in a press release from the Swedish University that she thinks many women want to finish their studies and establish themselves in the labor market before they have their first child. This release can make it harder to get pregnant.
Researchers see that more first-time mothers than before seek help at fertility clinics.
Lindh believes that women may be too little aware that fertility declines the older they get.
This was confirmed by Anne Britt Vika Nilsen, midwife and lecturer at Bergen University College, in an article on forskning.no in 2014.
In her doctorate, she looked at the reasons why women and men wait with children, and what consequences it can have. One in three women and one in two men aged 36 and 40 had intentions of having children later.
– Our figures show that many overestimate the woman’s fertility. One gambles with the woman’s biology. It puts the pressure on being fertile at an age where you are not to the same degree as before, Nilsen said.
Reasons why they had been exposed to having children were lack of suitable partner, that they did not feel the time was right or because they chose to prioritize other things like career and better finances before child. Special men choose to wait, Nilsen says in the article.
Reference:
Ingela Lindh, et al: Reproductive changes among women in their 40s: A cross-sectional study, Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica ScandinavicaJanuary 2022
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