Iceland On Track To See 5,000 Babies Born This Year

Iceland appears to be on track to see about 5,000 births in 2021, RÚV reports. This would mark the greatest number of single-year births since records were first kept.

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Going by the recorded number of birth for the first three quarters of 2021, there have not been more births in a single year in Iceland since 2010, when a mini-baby-boom occurred in the wake of the financial collapse.

“In Iceland, and in some Nordic countries, we are seeing a so-called baby boom,” Sunna Kristín Símonardóttir, an adjunct in sociology at the University of Iceland, told reporters. “People are choosing to have children now, and there appears to be a direct connection with the coronavirus pandemic. Other factors also play a part, such as the new law on parental leave, which has been extended from nine months to twelve.”

There have already been 300 more babies born this year than at the same time last year. This will undoubtedly have effects on the school system.

For example, most children admitted to playschool are about two years old, so more space for these children will need to be made by 2023. In six years’ time, there will also need to be more space made in primary schools to accommodate these children. As such, Sunna Kristín says, the time to prepare is now.

Another possible effect this baby boom may have is reversing the current trend in Iceland where the average age has been increasing.