Sweden Investigates Declining Birth Rates Amid European Trends

It's not just Swedish politicians who are concerned about declining birth rates. In Hungary, women are now offered half a million kronor if they give birth to three children.

In Europe, birth rates have nearly halved over the past 60 years.

In Sweden, the average number of children born per woman last year was 1.43, the lowest in several hundred years. The government has now launched an investigation to understand why.

– We will, for example, look at the economic conditions and housing issues. Then there might be a lot of value questions that we need to turn and twist, says Jimmy Loord (KD), who will lead the work.

Stricter Abortion Laws and Housing Benefits

In 2023, Sollefteå municipality launched the campaign "Love More - We Need More" to increase the number of newborns. The municipality organized cozy evenings at the swimming pool and lectures with sex counselors. It helped little.

In several countries in Europe, more drastic measures have now been taken to reverse the trend. In Finland, which has the lowest birth rate in the Nordics, there is a proposal to offer first-time mothers 340,000 kronor.

In Hungary, one can receive half a million kronor for housing and 70,000 kronor for a car if they have three children. In addition, the country enacts stricter abortion laws and offers free IVF treatments.

– This family policy is part of the ideology that Fidesz has at its core. But it has also been part of election strategies to attract votes, says Anders Blomqvist, Hungary expert and lecturer in history at Dalarna University to SVT.