A new spike in the number of babies in Iceland marked 2010, according to data from Statistics Iceland.
According to the numbers, Morgunblaðið reports, 4,907 children were born in 2010; 2,523 boys and 2,384 girls. Only twice before, in the history of recorded births in Iceland, have their been more babies born here. In 2009, 5,026 children were born and in 1960, 4,916.
At the same time, fertility rates have decreased slightly. There are now 2.2 children for every woman in the country, as opposed to 2.22 the year previous. 2.1 children per mother is necessary to maintain the population in the long term. In Iceland, the average has typically been around 2. The population has increased in this time period, influenced to some degree by immigration, although there has been a recent decline in numbers due to people leaving – or not moving here in the first place – for economic reasons.
The average age of new mothers has also increased. From the 1960s through the 80s, new mothers were on average under 22 years of age. From 2006 to 2010, that average has increased to 26.6 years.
Broken down by age, only 13 children among 1,000 women were born to mothers under 20 years of age, while in the early 1960s, there were 84 children per 1,000 women born to mothers this young. Today, 138 children per 1,000 women were born to mothers between the ages of 25 and 29.
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