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Article: Marked decline in European birth rate: a concern for midwives; Penny Held, European representative on the IM Editorial Advisory Group, highlights demographic changes in the region that will impact on midwifery.
- Article from:
- International Midwifery
- Article date:
- July 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 International Confederation of Midwives. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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No major industrialised country in the world has a total fertility rate (that is, the average number of children a woman has) above 2.1. The average fertility rate in Europe is 1.45. France, with a total fertility rate of 1.9 per woman and England with a rate of 1.64, have rates above the European average. In Germany, the rate is 1.4 children per woman and in Italy it is as low as 1.2. Even in Scandinavia, where the countries are well known for 'family-friendly,' politics, the fertility rate is 1.7 in Denmark and Finland and in Sweden only 1.54. The Eastern European countries are most negatively affected by declining birth rates where close to only 1.2 children per woman ...