From SwissInfo

Marriage and babies are in vogue

swissinfo.ch


There were more births and marriages in Switzerland in 2009, but fewer divorces, according to the latest figures.

The Federal Statistics Office said on Thursday that the average number of children per woman had risen to 1.5, up from 1.48 in 2008 and 1.38 in 2001. But it is still lower than the 2.1 needed to sustain the population.

In all, 78,300 children were born in 2009, up 2.1 per cent on 2008. While women under 30 years old are having fewer babies, those over 35 are having more, with a 43 per cent increase on 2001, the office said in a statement.

There was a 0.9 per cent rise in marriages with 09.09.09 being a particularly popular date to tie the knot (1,000 couples). On the other end of the scale, the number of divorces dropped by 1.5 per cent on 2008.

Compared with other countries, Switzerland still stands out for the low percentage of births outside marriage at 17.9 per cent in 2009. This compares to a European Union average of 33 per cent (2007).

The country also enjoys a high life expectancy of both men and women, at 79.8 years old and 84.4 years old respectively. The gap in life expectancy between the sexes is closing, at 4.6 years in 2009 compared with 6.9 years in 1992.

... and our unemployment numbers are down as well, from 4.5% in January to 3.7% unemployed in June.

Originally Posted by Francois Cellier

The Federal Statistics Office said on Thursday that the average number of children per woman had risen to 1.5, up from 1.48 in 2008 and 1.38 in 2001. But it is still lower than the 2.1 needed to sustain the population.

Many of our mountain villages are closing down their grammar schools, because there aren't enough children left to justify the expense. This is partly, because families have less children in general, and partly, because the young people move away from the mountain villages for lack of a job. Thus, these villages are mostly populated by elder adults who don't have children any longer.

The few children left must then travel by postal bus to another village, which convinces even more parents of such children to move away to a place with a better infrastructure.

Sounds like a similar path to Japan, where whole villages are becoming uninhabited as the old people die and younger ones move to cities.

Originally Posted by roadkill

Sounds like a similar path to Japan, where whole villages are becoming uninhabited as the old people die and younger ones move to cities.

or anywhere in the world where you had a move towards cities during the 20thC?

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I don't think it's happening in China.