The North Icelandic Baby Boom

Last year, about 500 newborns were delivered at the Akureyri Hospital in North Iceland. According to RÚV, this is a growth of almost twenty-six percent from the previous year. The news was revealed at this week's hospital annual meeting. There was a general rise in patient figures: Akureyri Hospital treated 13,500 people in 2021, which is a rise of twenty-two percent from the previous year.

In 2021, there were 488 births resulting in 491 newborns (including twins in three sets of births) at Akureyri Hospital. By contrast, in 2020 .397 babies were born in 392 births (they were five sets of twins that year). On record, 2021 will be the second most prolific year for Akureyri. The most babies ever born in Iceland's "capital of the north" in a single year is 515 in 2010.

In the real capital, births were up, but nothing compared to the North. In 2021, at Reykjavík’s National and University Hospital,  3,466 newborns were delivered which is only 5% more than the previous year.

The increase in newborns is due to a range of factors, according to the CEO of Akureyri, Hildigunnur Svavarsdottir, but the cause is hard to determine with certainty. “I believe people got bored during COVID.”

“That is one theory, and many people are giving each other knowing grins. But I have no idea what's going on—I just consider it a wonderful event. We could use more people like you up here,” she added.