Parenthood intentions and fertility knowledge in the Nordic population 1970 to 2021 – a scoping review

Fertility rates are decreasing globally, and the Nordic countries currently have fertility rates of 1.3-1.5 per woman. The objectives of this scoping review, covering the Nordic welfare states since 1970, were to explore women's and men's parenthood intentions, their assessment of important circumstances for family building and their fertility knowledge. Overall, 24 quantitative studies and 6 qualitative studies were included. Across studies, the majority of both women and men expressed a desire to have children, while 0-14% did not wish to do so. Among those having parenthood intentions approximately 85% wanted to have two or three children. Parenthood intentions did not decline during the 50-year period of the empirical studies. Hence, as fertility rates are substantially decreasing, the gap between parenthood intentions and actual birth rates is widening. Since 2006, 12 of the included studies explored study participants' fertility knowledge. All studies except one reported uncertain fertility knowledge, either overestimating or underestimating the probability of spontaneous pregnancy, or overestimating the success rate after IVF treatment. There is an urgent need for cross-disciplinary and structural efforts to bridge the increasing gap between desired and actualized parenthood.