Birth rates have declined by up to half compared to the level of 10 years ago in some of Finland's Laestadian-majority municipalities.
Laestadianism is a Lutheran religious movement with many followers in the Nordic countries. The highest concentration of followers in Finland live in the Ostrobothnia regions along the west coast.
Traditionally, many families in the community have had upwards of 10 children. In recent years, however, Laestadian couples are having relatively smaller families, limiting the number of children they have from around 10-12 down to about five.
The religious movement officially forbids contraceptives, one of the factors influencing the traditionally large family sizes.
Yle surveyed members of the religious community online for their experiences on the subject and received almost 300 responses. Around two thirds of respondents said they had not decided to have fewer children, while one third said they had limited the number of kids.
The interviewees remained anonymous due to the sensitivity of the subject, but their identities are known to Yle.
Societal change was strongly suggested by a mother of six as one of the reasons for this decline.
"Nowadays, young Conservative Laestadians dream of education and backpacking trips to Asia or Australia, and not necessarily of a life of Marimekko curtains in the window of a detached house on the edge of a field," she said.
A Laestadian father of six said he is pleased that there has been a shift within the movement towards a slightly more permissive approach to contraception. However, he emphasised that the debate is not open.
"If you question the doctrine even a little bit, you are already wrong in principle," he told Yle.
He further added that he and his wife decided to have fewer children because they wanted to guarantee enough time and attention for each of their children and their future grandchildren.
"It's normal that in a community there may be 50 or 100 grandchildren and their grandparents are not involved in their lives," he said.
Societal change affecting Laestadians too
According to regional development expert Timo Aro, the main reason for the decline in birth rates in small towns and cities is that young people have moved en masse to cities for work and studies. This has reduced the number of women in small municipalities.
Aro pointed out that the birth rate has fallen considerably in Finland as a whole. He said it is impossible to know how the family size of Conservative Laestadians affects demographic trends, because there are no exact statistics on membership of the religious movement.
However, Aro added, it could be assumed that the birth rate among Conservative Laestadians has also fallen, because the overall decline is so large, even in municipalities where the movement has historically been strong.
For example, the birth rate today is half of what it was 10 years ago in the Central Ostrobothnia municipality of Perho, a small municipality with a historically large Laestadian presence.
Aro noted that it is even more difficult to be sure of the reasons for the decline — both at the level of the population as a whole and among Conservative Laestadians.
He said reasons could include contraceptive use, difficulty in finding a partner, infertility and families having their first child at an older age.
Quietly accepting contraception
Miika Koskela, who worked as a priest and speaker in the movement but left six years ago, recalled that cultural changes were already happening in the movement while he was still involved.
For example, he said, it was becoming more acceptable to limit the number of children for mental health reasons.
Koskela said that since then, personal discretion has been taken further, which is now reflected in smaller family sizes.
Jussi Sohlberg, a research coordinator at the Church Institute for Research and Advanced Training, said there is a clear increase in the number of Conservative Laestadians who believe that contraception is a private matter and not something that should be dictated by the church.
The father of five, interviewed by Yle, wondered why it is still difficult to talk about family size in public.
"I find it quite funny that it can't be discussed when everyone knows about it anyway. It's quite common that there are no more big families," he told Yle.
Sohlberg said that the movement's leadership is certainly aware of the difference between the official line and the actions of some of its members. However, he said he believes that there is no sign that the community's official position is changing.
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