Sixty seconds on . . . pandemic babies

Did the predicted baby boom happen?It was more of a baby bust. Despite predictions that the birth rate would rise as the covid-19 pandemic forced people to spend more time at home, a study of 14 countries has found that Europe actually saw a 14% decrease in live births in January 2021, around nine to 10 months after the first lockdowns.Baby shower?Only a light drizzle. England and Wales had 13% fewer live births than expected in January 2021, and there were 14% fewer in Scotland. Perhaps taking part in Zoom quizzes, watching box sets, and baking sourdough bread were enough to occupy people during those long months.So “Netflix and chill” isn’t a euphemism?The study, published in Human Reproduction,1 didn’t cover that. But its authors noted that the decrease in births was more likely to be associated with lockdowns that were imposed in many European countries, than from people becoming infected…
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