Finnish fertility: Pro- or counter-cyclical?

Scholars’ engagement with the issue of how economic fluctuations and fertility are linked re-flourished in the aftermath of the Great Recession of 2008 when birth rates plummeted in many, if not most, Western countries. Media, policy makers’ and the larger public’s attention on the topic has grown substantially in the past few years (Politiken, 2018). The recent trends in period fertility rates in Europe and in the US confirm that the Great Recession was followed by a significant and widespread decline in births (Eurostat, 2018). Finland is no exception in this decline. Since 2010 the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has plummeted, hitting an all-time low rate of 1.49 children per woman in 2017 (Figure 1; Statistics Finland, 2018). This persistent fertility decline came largely unexpectedly since the Great Recession hit the Nordic countries to a lesser extent compared to other regions of Europe.