Stockholm, May 25 (IANS). Sweden, which is ranked fourth in the list of happy countries, is troubled by the falling birth rate. This is the reason why the country’s Prime Minister Ulf Christerson has promised to make IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) an important issue in the upcoming elections.
The Swedish government recently increased the number of state-funded IVF attempts from three to six for people wishing to become parents for the first time.
Now Christerson has said that if his Moderate Party remains in power in the general election in September, the government will cover the cost of IVF for second or additional children. His minority coalition government is supported by the right-wing Sweden Democrats.
The announcement came at a time when official data clarified the picture. It is reported that Sweden’s fertility rate fell to 1.42 last year, the lowest since records began in 1749.
British newspaper The Guardian gave this information quoting Christerson’s recent podcast. “This is a level we have never seen before in Sweden. It made me think. Maybe a lot of people don’t want to have children, but I’m sure there are a lot of people who really want children but are not able to have them,” the Swedish PM said during the interview.
Under the new law, free IVF facility will be available six times for the first child, but this facility is not yet available for additional children. A one-time IVF attempt costs around 50,000 Swedish kronor (about £3,975).
On the election promise of extending IVF support for additional children as well, she said, “There is nothing wrong in having a child, but many people who have a child want it to have a brother or sister as well.”
He also said that he “does not want to interfere at all in deciding how many children each family should have,” as it is a “very personal matter.”
Like neighboring Norway, the government has commissioned a study on ways to reverse the decline in the birthrate. The government has warned that if trends continue, each new generation will be about one-third smaller than its parents.
–IANS
kr/
