Data from Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office show a further decline in the average number of births per woman. In 2022, the rate was 1.39 children per woman or 9.3 births per 1,000 residents, the lowest level in 20 years.
During 2022 around 82,000 babies were born in Switzerland, 8.5% fewer than in 2021. Extrapolating recent data published this week suggests there will be an estimated 75,000 births in 2023.
Understanding why the birth rate has fallen is complex and uncertain. One expert interviewed by RTS thinks the recent decline might be connected to the Covid-19 pandemic. Valérie-Anne Ryser, an expert in social science at the University of Lausanne, thinks the pandemic may have created a sense of insecurity that has led people to decide to have fewer children. The same phenomenon has been observed in other parts of Europe, especially in the south, which was heavily affected the pandemic.
Other factors may also be behind the trend. A trend towards dual career families has left less time for children. And combining motherhood and career is not easy in Switzerland. School children typically come home for lunch.
In addition, parental leave in Switzerland’s remains heavily biased towards mothers sacrificing their careers. Political efforts to change this have floundered. One political camp demands more paternity leave. Another political camp, which does not want a system like this that forces everyone to subsidise a family model that is not of everyone’s choosing, rejects this idea. One way beyond this impasse – a shared pool of paternity leave that parents can allocate freely between themselves – is routinely rejected. This intransigeance leaves the issue in a kind of political ground hog day.
According to Ryser there is potentially another reason: women may be actively deciding not to have children. The expert has identified three broad groups. One group is happy couples that want their love for each other to remain exclusive. There is no room for a child in these relationships. The second group is women who are focused on expressing themselves through some other form of creativity for whom having children is not something essential. Finally, there are other women who consider the world too violent and dystopian to bring a child into.
At the same time Switzerland is not facing population decline. Even in 2022 the number of births (82,000) exceeded the number of deaths (74,000). In addition, net migration adds around 50,000 people to the nation’s population every year.
More on this:
RTS article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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