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AFP
Hoyv'edk Faroe Islands, Denmark
GUNNHILD Helmsdal's mailbox has six names printed on it and will soon add a seventh: having a big family is nothing unusual in the Faroe Islands where women have the most babies in Europe despite also having the highest rate of employment.
The economically prosperous and autonomous Danish territory in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean has had the highest birth rate in Europe for decades, with around 2.5 children per woman, according to World Bank figures.
In the rest of Europe, women usually give birth to less than two children on average, its data shows.
When Helmsdal, 41, gives birth to her fourth child a few weeks from now her family will grow to seven members, including her husband and his daughter from a previous union.
"Children are the greatest gift of all, I think. I've always wanted to have several kids,"Helmsdal, who is a doctor, tells AFP at her home.
"Large families are maybe a bit chaotic but, in the end, happy families,"she says, with a smile while her two-year-old son Brandur seeks her attention. His name means"sword"or"fire"in the Old Norse language.
Her two neighbours, who live across the street in this residential area of Hoyvik, near the capital Torshavn, have six and seven children respectively.
The archipelago has long suffered from a deficit in women as many have emigrated since World War II and not returned.
The trend has changed in the last five years as the job market, which was historically heavily focused on fishing, has diversified.
Faroese society, traditionally dominated by conservative values, has also become more liberal -- same-sex marriage was legalised on July 1, 2017.
When asked about the reason for its remarkable fertility rate, locals often jokingly say:"There's nothing else to do here."
However, the throwaway remark does not reflect the reality: participation in the Faroese labour force is the highest in Europe, especially among women, according to Hans Pauli Strom, a sociologist at Statistics Faroe Islands.
Eighty-three percent of the Faroese hold a job, compared to 65 percent in the European Union -- of which the territory is not a member -- and 82 percent of Faroese women work, compared to 59 percent in the bloc.
