March 2007 - Nr. 3
Germany’s World Cup Baby Boom
TWIG - Last year’s soccer World Cup in Germany brought the host nation more than a respectable third-place finish in the international tournament showcasing the best of the best in the beautiful game - it has also produced a mini baby boom.
As reported by
Spiegel Online International and Reuters, an expected jump in birth rates nine months after the fact can be directly attributed to those heady and fun-filled days last summer. "The party mood which gripped much of the nation between June 9 and July 9 last year helped couples who had struggled for years to conceive as well as leading to productive new liaisons," Reuters reported on Wednesday."We are looking at a 10 to 15 percent jump in births in early March which goes back to the World Cup," Rolf Kliche, head of the Dr Koch clinic in the city of Kassel near Frankfurt, told Reuters. "Biological factors are related to people being relaxed and in a good mood which explains the phenomenon."
His clinic delivered its first "World Cup Baby" on Feb. 11. Pia Schmidt said her daughter Farina, born five weeks early, was conceived after Germany’s 1:0 victory against Poland.
"I remember it perfectly. There was a great atmosphere, we had friends over and later the celebrations continued in the bedroom," Schmidt, 27, told Reuters from her hospital bed.
"We had wanted a child for some time and the
midwife said the positive vibes during the World Cup released my hormones."
