Birth rate | Chief physician: Young adults’ false conceptions of fertility can affect birth rates

In young people adults have wrong ideas about fertility and that is one of the reasons why the birth rate continues to fall in Finland, says the head physician of the Department of Reproductive Medicine at Helsinki University Hospital, docent Hanna Savolainen-Peltonen.

“Many people think that having children can be safely postponed until closer to 40 years of age. However, a woman’s fertility begins to decline already ten years earlier and has decreased considerably around the age of 40,” he says.

Birth rate has decreased rapidly in Finland since the 2010s.

During the Corona period, the capital region experienced a brief baby boom, but last year the number of children born alive was the lowest in more than 150 years, according to Statistics Finland.

Savolainen-Peltonen points out that the single most important factor affecting fertility is age. In Finland, the average age of first-time mothers is the highest in the Nordic countries, 30 years. In the capital region, it has been for more than 31 years.

“Approximately every sixth couple suffers from unintentional infertility at some point in their lives,” he adds.

Savolainen-Peltonen says that in his work he often meets couples approaching 40 years of age, who have been together for a long time and were considering the right time to have children.

“When we tell them about the effect of age on fertility, they often wish they had received this information earlier.”

He also refers to Väestöliitto’s family barometer survey, which has investigated young adults’ perceptions of fertility.

“Almost half of the respondents estimate that fertility starts to decline after the age of 41. In fact, the probability of giving birth has clearly decreased already for a woman over 37 years old. The most fertile age to get pregnant is for women between 18 and 25 and for men under 35,” says Savolainen-Peltonen.

Wrong According to him, perceptions can be caused by, among other things, the fact that the upper age limit for accessing infertility treatment in public health care is 40 years. Many make the erroneous conclusion that fertility starts to decline only after the age of 40.

In fact, according to Savolainen-Peltonen, the probability of women over 40 having a child as a result of fertility treatment is quite small. That is why they are not even given fertility treatments in public health care.

what if want several children? At what age should you start?

Savolainen-Peltonen says that Dutch researchers have mathematically modeled the most favorable age for the purchase of children.

If you wish to have three children, according to a Dutch study, it would be possible with a 90 percent probability if you start having children at the age of 23. If you accept a lower probability and there is an opportunity to use fertility treatment, you could start trying for three children at the age of 28–31.

If, on the other hand, you want two children and a 90 percent chance of success, you should start trying to get pregnant at the age of 27. If you accept a lower probability of 75 percent and there is an opportunity to use fertility treatment, you could postpone having children until the age of 34-35.

“However, a 75 percent probability means that if four couples try for a child, three will succeed and one will remain childless,” Savolainen-Peltonen reminds.

He points out that it is, however, about mathematical modeling.

“The individual is always a different matter. You can never say with certainty in advance that having a child will not be possible.”

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“The matter is sensitive and it should be worded in the right way.”

Finland the background of the low birth rate is many life circumstances, reasons related to education and income level. According to Savolainen-Peltonen, many other things also affect everything from the country’s economy to world politics.

“However, I hope that no one would be involuntarily childless just because they don’t know what kinds of things affect fertility.”

He hopes that fertility would be talked about more in, for example, middle school and high school health information classes.

“Schools have focused on prevention education in order to avoid unwanted pregnancies. As a counterweight, it would be good to provide information on what is required to have the desired child,” he says.

Talks about maternity leave easily arouse irritation.

“The matter is sensitive and it should be worded in the right way. Everyone must have the opportunity to make their own decision based on the information they receive,” says Savolainen-Peltonen.

Fertility treatments the number has increased by almost a third at Helsinki University Hospital’s infertility clinic in the last five years.

In Finland and around the world, more than half of the fertility treatments are performed on women over 35 years old.

You can get public health care infertility treatment if the couple has been trying to get pregnant for 12 months – with certain criteria even earlier. Independent women and female couples can also access public health care fertilization treatments.

Barriers to access to treatment in public health care include, for example, a woman’s age over 40 or severe obesity. Private health service companies do not have similar criteria.

According to Savolainen-Peltonen, the good news is that up to 80 percent of those who apply for infertility tests get the child they want.

“However, fertility treatments cannot correct the effect of age on gamete quality,” he adds.