In March, most countries around the world reacted to the pandemic by imposing a lockdown on its citizens. Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine, even encouraged Ukrainians to use the time at home to work on the national birth rate problem.
One way of projecting the world population trend in 9 months is to look at the new downloads of pregnancy tracker applications.
The NordVPN Analytics team analyzed 3 apps: Ovia Pregnancy, BabyCenter, and Pregnancy +. The micro-study focused on new installs of the applications within the last 12 months.
Could COVID-19 result in a baby boom?
Generally speaking, the enforced intimacy could turn out to be fruitful, as the average worldwide number of new app installs went up by 32% in March. This might result in an uplift in birth rates around the holiday season in December. However, the global trend went back to normal in the later months. “The process of becoming pregnant and having a baby is one big unknown. Plus, the financial stresses that come alongside parenthood could also be a deterrent', says Dr Lucy Atcheson, Counselling Psychologist in London.
Worldwide downloads of 3 pregnancy apps from Apple App Store and Google Play.
As the virus is spreading fast, the interest in getting pregnant is on the decline
The interest in getting pregnant is not the same around the world. “Our analysts have noticed a correlation between the numbers of pregnancy tracker app downloads and the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people in a country”, explains Ruby Gonzalez, NordVPN’s Head of Communications.
The United States, Great Britain, Russia, and Brazil are among those countries that suffered the most. As might be expected, the overall interest in pregnancy trackers among women in the US dropped by 23% and demonstrated a moderate uplift (9%) from the beginning of the lockdown. Meanwhile, the trend in Russia and Brazil resembles a rollercoaster. Russians spiked in downloads in March and dropped in April. The overall average uplift in the post-pandemic period is 64%. Brazil is an exception to the rule. Since the country decided not to apply any measures to manage the pandemic, the average number of pregnancy tracker downloads went up by 89% and keeps increasing.
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| Downloads of 3 pregnancy apps from Apple App Store and Google Play in the United States, Great Britain, Brazil, and Russia. | Downloads of 3 pregnancy apps from Apple App Store and Google Play in Denmark, Singapore, South Korea and New Zealand. |
Which countries can expect a baby boom?
Countries that were less affected by the virus might be having more babies as soon as late December. Since March, the average monthly downloads of pregnancy tracker app installs went up in Denmark, Hong Kong, and South Korea.
“If we assume that only pregnant women are downloading the tracker, Denmark (+38%), New Zealand (+33%), Singapore (+70%), South Korea (+100%), and other countries that were less affected by the virus might be expecting a baby boom. However, as joyful as it is, women have to be cautious while logging their sensitive personal data. The best way to do so is to stay anonymous and protect yourself with strong passwords”, Ruby Gonzalez said.
Why choose one app over the other?
Pregnancy tracker apps are usually free, but in order to earn money, they share users’ information with third parties for advertising purposes. Some, however, provide their user data to researchers to study complex health conditions.
“Women are advised to be very careful in setting app privacy controls. It is advisable not to allow the app to access contacts, photos, and location. Women should carefully check whom the app is sharing the data with. And last, but not least — use strong passwords and do not take and post pictures of yourself and your unborn child”, — says Daniel Markuson, a digital privacy expert at NordVPN.
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