Infertility is an increasing problem in many countries around the world. Even though infertility is no longer the taboo subject it once was, a number of studies have shown that the general population is still quite ignorant on the subject of infertility.
The U.S. birth rate dropped to a 30-year low in 2018, and at the same time that the mainstream media is celebrating huge pro-abortion victories in New York, they also sound the alarm that Americans aren’t having enough babies to replace themselves.
HealthLine ran a story on the causes of this huge fertility drop, among which are delayed marriage and childbearing, financial concerns, a higher career focus among women, and better use of contraception. Another reason cited is that fertility treatments may give women a false sense of security that even if they wait, they’ll have a shot at parenthood.
One reproductive endocrinologist told HealthLine, “The medications and procedures like intrauterine insemination and in vitro fertilization that we use have been incredibly successful at helping couples conceive,” but adds that their prohibitive cost and lack of insurance coverage make them less accessible than women often believe, and that they are better for certain age groups than others.
What these experts didn’t mention is that the public is often wildly overoptimistic about how successful such treatments really are, and about how long fertility lasts. A recent Danish study indicates that many populations seem to share this ignorance.
(Source: Kimberly Holland, “Here’s Why the Birth Rate Is So Low in the United States,” HealthLine, January 22, 2019.)
A new Danish study reveals that many university students remain woefully ignorant of the biological and medical realities that make it unlikely that they will ever actually realize the family life they believe they are only delaying.
Affiliated with Denmark’s Copenhagen University, Metropolitan University, and Zealand University, the authors of the new study probe young Danes’ understanding of reproductive biology in large part because of their concern about the number of young people in Western countries, including their own, who are delaying parenthood. In recent decades, the researchers note, “many countries have seen a marked increase in parental age.” In Denmark, they report, since 1986 the average age of first-time fathers has risen by three years, to 31.3, while the average age for first-time mothers has climbed by four years, to 29.1.
Similar developments are taking place in other Nordic countries, with Finland, Norway, and Sweden all reporting “similar patterns . . . regarding postponement of family formation.” The researchers point out that although “postponement of family formation was seen across all educational groups, . . . the postponement was more pronounced among highly educated women.”
Higher ages for first-time parents are not just a pattern seen in to Nordic countries: The authors of the new study see similar trends in other countries, with the age of first-time mothers now standing at 30.6 years in Italy and 30.4 years in Spain.
Inevitably, fertility delayed often translates into fertility denied. The authors of the new study understandably highlight delayed parenthood as a reason for the “decline in total fertility rate (TFR)
A decline in TFR has been seen in OECD [Organisation for Economic and Co-operative Development] countries, where the average TFR dropped from 2.7 to 1.7” between 1970 and 2009. With a Total Fertility Rate now at 1.69, Denmark appears quite typical of affluent Western nations with fertility well below the Zero Population Growth level of 2.1 lifetime births per woman.
To determine the level of fertility knowledge among young Danes, the researchers surveyed 517 male and female students enrolled at the Metropolitan University College in Copenhagen. The data collected from these students intensified rather than allayed concerns about whether young Danes delaying parenthood really understand the consequences.
Overall, the researchers find that the young Danes they surveyed “generally lacked knowledge on fertility issues,” with “no substantial differences between the two genders.” This lack of knowledge about fertility surfaces on a number of matters. For instance, most of the young Danes surveyed did not realize how soon and how markedly a woman’s fertility declines. The Danish researchers report that “half of both genders thought a slight age-related decline in female fertility has its onset beyond the age of 30 years (correct answer: 25–29 years).” Even more fundamental misunderstanding appears among the “more than 35% [of students surveyed who] believed that a marked decrease [in female fertility] does not occur until 40 years of age (correct answer: 35–39 years).” Astonishingly, more than 10% of the Danish students surveyed believed that a marked fertility decline does not occur until age 45!
Ignorance about natural fertility among the Danish students was matched by their ignorance about possibilities of Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR): the researchers report that the success rate of MAR was “grossly overestimated” by both male and female students: “the majority [of the students surveyed in this study] . . . overestimated the probability of achieving a child from IVF treatment,” with 55% of males and 69% of students pegging the probability too high, many of them quite markedly too high. (The actual success rate for MAR runs less than 30%.)
Since the researchers found that “the majority of participants [in their study] . . . want[ed] two children,” they have to wonder about the apparent “disparity between what is desired and the actual outcome.”
The Danish researchers see this unfortunate situation manifest in “other studies [that] have time and again found similar limited knowledge [about fertility] among university students” in Europe and the United States. The researchers find this widespread ignorance of fundamental fertility issues to be “of particular concern, as a sizable percentage of [young people] intend to have their last child at the age of 35 years or older, whe[n] a marked decline in female fertility is a reality.”
With good reasons, the Danish scholars fear that “both men and women are making the decision to postpone parenthood without being aware of possible consequences.” The authors of this new study call for measures “to increase knowledge and awareness of reproductive health” among young people. Unfortunately, among young people for whom parenthood has become a secondary or even tertiary priority—whether in Copenhagen, Cairo, Cape Town, or Calgary—desire for such knowledge may yield to stronger desire for illusions.
Meanwhile, in Malaysia, Fertility specialist Dr Mohamed Hatta Tarmizi revealed the shocking statistics of knowledge gaps of Malaysians when it comes to the topic of fertility. He disclosed that 71 per cent of Malaysians do not know that a woman in her forties has a lower chance of getting pregnant than in the thirties, while 68 per cent are unaware of the fact that obesity is a factor that reduces fertility. “Another 49 per cent of Malaysians do not know that a man may be infertile even if he produces sperm, and 51 per cent too do no know that a man may be infertile even though he can achieve an erection.
“Also, 43 per cent of Malaysians are unaware that a woman who does not menstruate is no longer fertile. Meanwhile, another 69 per cent do not know that a couple would be classified as infertile if they fail to conceive after one year of trying,” he shared.