Low Fertility in Norway and Policy Implications

Abstract

For the last five years, fertility levels in Norway have reached new historical lows every year. The conditions in the Norwegian labor market have been and still are quite good. At the same time, the government offers generous policies when people have children, meaning we must search elsewhere for explanations for the decline in fertility than family policies. According to the uncertainty perspective, people in an uncertain economic situation or people viewing the future as more economically uncertain, may be more hesitant to have children. We argue that future fertility trends must be considered in relation to possible changing preferences where people may give higher priorities to other activities than having children, the role of men’s fertility trajectories and the consequences of a shift in the social inequality in fertility.