Births, 2000

The fertility rate of women younger than 25 years continued to fall in 2000. Women below 30 years still have the highest birth rates, however their share of the total amount of births is decreasing. The mean age at childbirth has risen steadily the last years to a peak of 27.3 years in 2000, a number 1.8 years higher than in 1990. Fathers were on average 3 years older than mothers.

On the European fertility top

The total fertility rate - or the number of children per woman - was 1.85 in 2000. Compared with the roller coaster fertility rate in Sweden, the Norwegian fertility rate has been stable the last decades. In comparison with the European average the Norwegian fertility rate is high. Only Iceland (1.99) and Ireland (1.88) had a higher fertility rate last year than Norway. The fertility rate in Sweden and Denmark was 1.5 and 1.73 respectively.

More multiple births

1049 multiple births were registered last year, equivalent to 18 multiple births per 1000 births. During the last years the increase in multiple births have been high. The number of twin births reached an all time peak last year with a total of 1033.

Record few stillbirths

There has never been registered as few stillbirths as last year. Only 225 stillbirths out of 59 459 births in total equals 3.8 stillbirths per 1000 births.

Near half of the children born outside wedlock

There has been a steady increase in the number of births outside wedlock during the last decade. Last year 29 368 births were outside wedlock, a number which equals 49.6 per cent of all births. There are considerable regional differences in this area. In Nord Trøndelag 66.5 per cent of the births were out of wedlock, whereas in Vest-Agder the corresponding rate was 34.9 per cent.

Table 8 will be released later.

Tables:

• Table 1 Live births and late foetal deaths. 1951-2000
• Table 2 Live births, by month. 1971-2000
• Table 3 Confinements of single and multiple births. 1956-2000
• Table 4 Confinements of single and multiple births, by sex. 1991-2000
• Table 5 Age-specific fertility rates and total fertility rate. 1961-2000
• Table 6 Average age at birth. 1946-2000
• Table 7 Hypothetic age of parents at the birth, by county. 2000
• Table 9 Total fertility rate, by county. 1968-2000
• Table 10 Confinements and births, by county. 2000
• Table 11 Live births, by age of mother and parity. 2000
• Table 12 Live births, by parity. 1978-2000
• Table 13 Live births, by age of mother and father. 2000
• Table 14 Live births, by citizenship of mother and father. 2000