In 2021, 89,400 births were registered in Switzerland, a number not seen since 1972. Switzerland’s population increased by 0.8% compared to 2020, reaching more than 8.7 million by the end of 2021.
The number of births in 2021 was 4.1% higher than in 2020, reported Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office on 5 April 2022. All cantons with the exception of Nidwalden and Obwalden recorded a year-on-year rise in births.
A number of theories have been suggested for the boom in births in Switzerland, reported RTS. One is that couples spent more time at home during the pandemic and suffered less work stress, two factors that may have led to a rise in pregnancies. During 2021 there were two peaks in births. Both of these birth peaks are around nine months after peaks in waves of Covid-19 had subsided, periods where people were more relaxed and optimistic.
Another possible factor is that more younger mobile people that would have normally emigrated stayed in Switzerland during the pandemic because it was a relatively good place to be during the crisis.
However, at 1.51 births per woman, the birth rate in Switzerland remains below the replacement rate where it has been since 1975.
There was also a post-Covid baby boom in France. But the jump was smaller than in Switzerland, according to Philippe Wanner, a demographer at the University of Geneva. In Italy, births declined. One possible explanation for these differences is Switzerland’s less strict restrictions, which limited stress levels and bolstered outlooks.
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