'Solo mums' on the rise in Denmark

01.04.2015

In Denmark you get your education and health care for free and if you're a woman who still hasn't found the love of your life but still want a child, the state will also cover your artificial insemination costs. But this is too much, some Danes now argue.

Popular trend of Danish women waiting until their 30s or 40s to have children – and choosing to do it alone – is not unique to Denmark. But statistics now show that as many as 478 children born in Denmark in 2014 were the result of artificial insemination in women without a partner (“solo mothers"), according to the state-owned TV station, Danmarks Radio (DR).

Danes, who have some of the highest tax rates in the world but who in return are happy to see the state provide for many benefits, now say that “enough is enough”. Many of the more than 200 people who have commented on the DR website hold this view.

“Having a child is not a human right,” one reader wrote. “I don’t think the state should pay for something that is not a disease,” noted another.

Some are positive

But some are positive about the state covering artificial insemination for solo mothers. One argues that if Denmark is to boost its low birth rate, untraditional methods like these have to be supported.

According to the World Bank, in 2012 Denmark had 1.73 births per woman, opposed to 1.85 in Norway and 1.91 in Sweden. Another study shows that in 2014 Danish women without partners received 3,454 fertilization treatments in Denmark.

Biological clock

The debate about the state paying for in-vitro fertilization started with some articles on the DR website about women waiting too long before they try to get pregnant, causing the artificial insemination to fail. Indeed, most solo mothers try to get pregnant when they are 36 or older.

But doctors warned women of losing their fertility sometimes ten years before they reach their menopause. The underlying message was that women do not know enough about the biological clock.

A few months back there was a suggestion to have more sex education about “how to make babies” in Danish schools to boost the falling birth rates.

Why so many solo mothers?

Danes are also trying to get to the bottom of why so many women choose to have children without a man. Some argue that it’s because Danish women have higher education, careers and in general high standards when it comes to men.

90 percent of solo mothers would have preferred to have a child with a partner, according to researcher and associate professor, Lone Schmidt, who specializes in solo mothers.

Others argue that it’s men's fault because they are the ones who wait too long to have children.

Source: The Local.dk