Italy is considering doubling the ‘baby bonus’ it provides to low and medium income families to encourage more births and halt the “catastrophic” decline in the birth rate.
Two years ago Prime Minister Matteo Renzi introduced a payment of €80 a month to help with the costs of raising children.
The country’s health minister, Beatrice Lorenzin, said the amount should be doubled and that there should be higher payments for second and subsequent children.
Italian women give birth to 1.39 children on average, compared the 1.58 average across the EU. Even the 1.58 average is woefully low and insufficient to restock a nation. For that, 2.1 births are needed.
Italy is reported to be behind only Malta in having the lowest birth rate in the EU.
Italy participated in the post-war baby boom but since then numbers have been dwindling. By 2015 there were just 488,000 births, the lowest number since the modern state was created in 1861.
“If we carry on as we are and fail to reverse the trend, there will be fewer than 350,000 births a year in 10 years’ time, 40% less than in 2010 — an apocalypse,” the minister said.
“If we link this to the increasing number of old and chronically ill people, we have a picture of a moribund country.”
Italy’s high unemployment rate, currently running at more than 11%, could be an inhibiting factor coupled with the fact that salaries have changed little in nearly 20 years.
Additionally, nursery care costs are high and many children finish school around lunchtime making it difficult for working parents.
The €80 bonus applies only for babies born between January 1st 2015 and December 31st 2017 and up to their third birthdays. The minister wants to extend the period to the end of 2020 and up payments for second and subsequent children to €240/month for average families and €400/month for the poorest.
Higher-income families with taxable earnings of more than €25,000 per year are not eligible for the scheme, excluding about a third of parents.
But money alone may not conquer the baby abyss. France, where the birth rate is nudging 2 births for each woman, has tackled the problem by providing greater services such as day care and flexible working hours.
