Fertility rates drop among all women's educational groups

The total fertility rate has continued to decline in all women’s educational groups since 2010, when the current slide in the birth rate started, according to the Statistics Finland.

The fertility rate of women with basic education has dropped 25 per cent and of those with tertiary education 24 per cent since 2010. The rate of decline has been slightly less, 20 per cent, among those with upper secondary education.

The total fertility rate is commonly used in measuring fertility. It indicates how many children a woman might give birth to during her life time, if the fertility rates remain the same as in the base year.

These data concern only mothers and fathers born in Finland. A share of qualifications taken abroad are missing from the Statistics Finland’s Register of Completed Education and Degrees, which resulted in the data on educational qualifications of many people born abroad are absent here.

The nosedive in the total fertility rate has been similar for men as for women. However, the change from 2010 has been steeper in all men’s educational groups.

For men with tertiary education, the total fertility rate has decreased 28 per cent and for those with basic education 27 per cent since 2010. The fertility rate has diminished slightly less among those with upper secondary level education, by 22 per cent.

The childless women include those aged 25 to 29 and 35 to 39 born in Finland. But not all of those aged 25 to 29 have necessarily completed their highest educational qualifications yet and their number of children is not final either. But changes in the birth rate at that age reflect the general trend of decline in the birth rate.

The birth rate in general has dropped considerably between 2010 and 2017. Measured by the total fertility rate, in those seven years it declined 20 per cent, from 1.87 children per woman to 1.49 children per woman. The total fertility rate can also be broken down by the number of children born.