The Covid 19 pandemic has seen the majority of the world confined to their homes in a joint effort to beat the virus. With so many couples saying in their houses, plus a national shortage of contraception, could this equal a possible post lockdown baby boom?

What is a baby boom?

A baby boom typically refers to a temporary period of time where there is a large increase of babies born.
Throughout history baby booms usually follow a significant event. The world saw a notable baby boom between 1945 and 1965, almost exactly nine months after world war two ended. By the end of 1965 there were 76.4 million ‘baby boomers’ in the united states alone.

Why did this happen?

Many couples had postponed marriage and childbirth during the great depression and world war two due to economic instability. Once these world events were over, many had the chance to begin new relationships and were eager to start families; these ones looked forward to having children because they were confident that the post-war future would bring comfort and prosperity.

Will there be a post Coronavirus baby boom?

There seems to be differing opinions about the certainty of a post coronavirus baby boom. The bookmakers think more babies will be on their way in 2021, betting company Ladbrokes have cut their odds to 1/3 for a record-breaking number of births next year. Experts believe that these new births will be predominantly made up of first-time parents as the pressures of lockdown for existing parents such as home-schooling and social distancing demands may have acted like a 'deterrent' for these parents.

However, other specialists are not convinced that we will see a baby boom. Dr Jaimie Meyer of Yale University said that "history suggests otherwise" when commenting on a possible post Covid19 baby boom. Dr Meyer told cosmopolitan that "Epidemiological data from other times of stress and quarantine, including famines, earthquakes, heatwaves and contagious outbreaks like Ebola and Flu, suggests that during events of community-wide mortality, there is actually a dip in births of nine months later". In addition, scientists from Anglia Ruskin University conducted research with the aim of investigating the correlation between sexual activity and COVID19 isolation. They found that only 39% of their sample (between the ages of 25-34 years old) had claimed to have been sexually active at this time. If only 2 in 5 adults in the UK are participating in baby-making activity during COVID19, we could see an overall decline in births for the nation in the next 7-9months of writing this?!

So, will we have a boom or not? The truth is, we will just have to wait and see! What we do know, however, is once the lockdown has been fully lifted, we will be all excited to see and hug our loved ones, whether that includes a new addition to our families or not.