Early History of Oral Contraceptive Pill in Finland: The Diffusion of the New Contraceptive and Fertility Patterns

Authors

• Aura Pasila

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23979/fypr.45065

Keywords:

contraception, contraceptive pill, diffusion, Second Demographic Transition, fertility decline, Finland

Abstract

The 1960s is often characterized as a decade of outstanding social and demographic
changes in Western societies. The introduction of the contraceptive pill is assumed to
have contributed to these changes. Yet the social as well as the demographic significance
of the pill is ambiguous. This article has two aims: 1) to describe the early history of
the pill in Finland in the 1960s and in the early 1970s and 2) to explore relationships
between fertility and the pill. Surveys, pharmaceutical market data, and estimations
are used to depict the diffusion of the pill. Based on calculated user percentages, the
pill was adopted neither instantly nor extremely widely in Finland during the period
under study. The results show that the diffusion coincided with fertility decline and
other changes in fertility patterns. However, a causal connection of any kind cannot
be established due to a lack of sufficient data.