Norway

Motherhood in Norway takes place within a fairly universal welfare state providing high-quality health care and a wide range of benefits and support; the state also promotes shared parenting. The fertility rate is 1.9.

Fifty percent of children are born outside of wedlock, mostly to cohabiting, heterosexual couples. The decoupling of marriage and childbirth partly explains the high birth rate. In 2007, the divorce rate was 11.8 per 1,000 marriages; based on current trends, every second marriage is expected to end in divorce.

Cohabiting couples in Norway are found to be at greater risk of splitting up than married ones. Of divorced couples, 66 percent have children, and a quarter of children below 18 years of age have a nonresident parent. Abortion is freely available until the 12th week of pregnancy, and under special circumstances until 18 weeks. Contraceptives are freely available for teenagers, as is free and voluntary medical supervision for women during pregnancy. The neonatal death rate is 3.6 per 1,000, and the maternal death rate is 7 per 100,000. Breastfeeding rates are high, and 80 percent of babies are still breastfed at 6 months of age.

Employment of Norwegian women stands at 68.3 percent, compared to 75.6 percent of men. The labor market is gender segregated, and a gender pay gap persists; 44 percent of women, mostly mothers, work part time to adapt to their family responsibilities. Of the population aged 25–64, 21 percent have a lower secondary education, 46 percent have upper and postsecondary education, and 33 have tertiary/university education. The most highly educated [Page 927]women tend to work full time more often than women with lesser education.