Want birth rates to rise? Start by making parenting easier

Following the Office for National Statistics data showing the UK's fertility rate has fallen to 1.41, Professor Geeta Nargund writes in The Standard:

"The replacement rate at which women give birth to enough babies to sustain population levels is 2.1. With an ageing population to support, this is a growing economic problem which will have a significant impact on healthcare and public services in the decades to come."

She urges UK policymakers to respond to the findings from the Economist Impact report "Fertility policy and practice: a Toolkit for Europe", for which Professor Geeta Nargund was the UK medical expert. This international review of how different countries have been responding to their declining birth rates highlights which policies have been most effective.

"In Spain, a lump-sum maternity allowance benefit led to a 3.5% increase in births – when the benefit was scrapped, they fell by 5.7%. In Austria, increasing parental leave from one to two years increased fertility by 3.5% with more mothers choosing to have a second child.

Our conclusion was that that family-friendly policies, which promote gender parity, are the most effective solution. Increasing the availability of childcare has the most significant impact on improving the fertility rate, societal and individual wellbeing and return on investment, followed by longer and higher-paid maternity leave."

Read the Economist Impact report here:

https://impact.economist.com/health/fertility-policy-and-practice-toolkit-europe

Read her full article in The Standard here:

https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/population-fertility-crisis-baby-neonatalism-b1244689.html