As births slow in China and US, ex-laggard Germany bucks trend

Rise in births in Europe’s largest economy attributed to family-friendly policies, welcoming of refugees.

China and the United States are grappling with falling birth rates but Germany has bucked the trend with a rise in births nine months after its first pandemic lockdown, testimony to recent family-friendly policies and higher migration. Europe’s largest economy used to have one of the lowest fertility rates in the region as conservative social norms and policies made it hard for women to reconcile families and work, crimping economic growth and compounding Germany’s labour shortage as baby boomers retire. That started to change as German Chancellor Angela Merkel expanded parental benefits and state investment in childcare from 2005. Her 2015 decision to let in more than a million mostly young refugees from Syria and elsewhere gave a further boost.