Birth rates in Europe dropped by about a seventh as a result of the first wave of the pandemic, according to an analysis published today.
Researchers studied the number of live births in January 2021, nine months after the first wave of the pandemic rolled across the continent, leading to the first lockdowns.
Writing in Human Reproduction, Swiss researchers say the reduction in birth rates was greatest in countries with the most intense lockdowns.
This included a 13% reduction in birth rates in England and Wales, 14% in Scotland and 28% in Lithuania and 24% in Ukraine.
By March 2021, birth rates had returned to normal levels – but there was no sign of a "rebound"� with families compensating with extra conceptions.
Researcher Dr Léo Pomar, of the School of Health Sciences in Lausanne, Switzerland, said: "The decline in births nine months after the start of the pandemic appears to be more common in countries where health systems were struggling and capacity in hospitals was exceeded. This led to lockdowns and social distancing measures to try to contain the pandemic.
"The longer the lockdowns the fewer pregnancies occurred in this period, even in countries not severely affected by the pandemic. We think that couples’ fears of a health and social crisis at the time of the first wave of COVID-19 contributed to the decrease in live births nine months later."�
Journal deputy editor Professor Christian De Geyter, of the University of Basel, Switzerland, said: "These observations are important because they show that human reproductive behaviour, as evidenced by numbers of live births, changes during dramatic events, epidemics and global crises.
"Fewer live births will result in more rapidly ageing populations and in lesser economic growth. Some rebound of the live birth numbers after each of these crises may mitigate these constraints, but sequential multiple crises may also result in live birth numbers not recovering."�
Pomar et al. Impact of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic on birth rates in Europe: a time series analysis in 24 countries. Human Reproduction 14 October 2022
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