Like so many European countries, Denmark is dealing with a rapidly declining birthrate.
The future of the country is now unclear; with a birthrate of just 1.7 children per family, there aren’t enough newborns to maintain the population. And with a population of 5.6 million in 2013, the country is pretty small to begin with.
Spies Resjer, a Danish travel company, is apparently on a mission to get people pregnant. In 2014, Spies Resjer offered a free “child-friendly holiday” and three years of baby supplies to anyone who could prove they conceived while on a vacation booked through the company.
And now, there’s this — a hilarious ad from Spies Resjer asking Danish couples to “do it for mom.” Check it out below:
There are a handful of possible reasons for the low birthrate. One issue: there aren’t enough Danish women in their childbearing years to begin with. Also, couples are waiting longer than ever to have kids, making it less likely that they will achieve a successful pregnancy.
According to Rigshospitalet, a hospital in Copenhagen, Danish women had their first birth in the 1970s at age 25, on average. In 2013, that number climbed to 29, and the number of women over 35 havings kids is growing larger as well.
That’s an older average age for women giving birth in than many countries. For perspective, the average in the U.S. is age 26. In India, it’s age 20.
Spies Resjer isn’t the only organization pushing for more baby Danes. Sex and Society, the nonprofit behind much of Denmark’s sex education in schools, now teaches kids about thepositive sides of pregnancy in addition to the usual lectures on preventing it.
It’s unclear where Spies Resjer gets its statistics about sex on sunny vacations versus camping. But allowing to easily buy their kids a vacation (where they will presumably make Danish babies)? Not bad, if you’re on the receiving end.
The closing message, at least, is more convincing than a rallying cry to have kids so that Denmark’s birthrate rises: “Do it for Denmark. Do it for Mom. Delivery within nine months not guaranteed.”
Author: Ariel Schwartz
Source: techinsider.io