The Financial Times has interviewed Anna Rotkirch, research director at the Family Federation of Finland’s Population Research Institute, who is concerned about low birth rates in Finland, where nearly 40% of “men with low education are now childless at the age of 45.”
“Across the world, fertility is declining in very different societies — conservative and liberal, big and small state, growing economies and stagnating ones,” according to the report. “Even India — known for its growing population — now has fewer births per woman than the theoretical replacement rate of 2.1.”
“Until recently, [Finland’s] fertility decline was driven by families having fewer children than their parents and grandparents,” the report continued. “Now the key dynamic is childlessness. In Finland, three-quarters of the recent decline in fertility is attributable to people who have no children.”