Helsinki, Apr 22 (IANS): Finland's registered 1.32 births per woman in 2022, the lowest level since record keeping started in 1776, according to official data.

Statistics Finland said the figure in 2021 was 1.46, reports Xinhua news agency.

In 2022, 44,951 children were born in Finland.

Statistics Finland said the main reason for the drop was that families chose not to have a second or third child.

In recent years, the proportion of first-born babies among newborns has increased slightly.

While just under 41 per cent of those born in 2018 were first-born children, this proportion rose to 43 per cent in 2022.

However, the number of second and third-born children decreased more than that of first-borns.

Of the children born in 2022, 19,500 were first-borns, 14,900 were second-born, 6,100 were third-born and about 4,400 were fourth and later born.

Almost half of the babies were born out of wedlock in 2022. Their proportion has increased since the 1970s.

The increase was most marked in the 1980s and 1990s, from 13 per cent to 39 per cent. In 2022, up to 49 per cent of children were born outside marriage.

The birth rate in Finland has fallen steadily for almost a decade. The figure dropped from 1.87 births per woman in 2010 to 1.35 in 2019.

A brief uptick in births was seen during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the fertility rate rose from 1.35 children per woman in 2019 to 1.46 in 2021.