paying parents to have babies, a good idea?

What if you were offered compensation for having babies? If this seems ridiculous, yet this is what Italy intends to offer to the inhabitants of the country. The reason: the Italian population is shrinking. The Covid-19 crisis has indeed caused a drop in the birth rate, and increased mortality. To remedy this, the Italian government will offer to pay future parents to have children, as a motivation.

Called the “baby bonus”, it will replace other aids, according to The Dispatch, and will be adapted according to income.

Pay to repopulate

In 2020, the birth rate fell sharply in France. Based on data from INSEE, “In December 2020, there was 7% fewer newborns than in December 2019. The decline continued to be much more pronounced in January 2021, with 13% fewer births than in January 2020”. A significant shift. Italy, meanwhile, had 404,000 births for 746,000 deaths, as shown by figures from Istat. The government explains this record by the health crisis, but also by the fact that young people and workers are fewer and fewer.

But the Italian government does not intend to let this birth rate continue to fall. That is why From July 2021, a premium of € 250 per month will be paid to parents, from the seventh month of pregnancy until the child is 21 years old. The initiative, which according to The world will cost the country 20 billion euros, was proposed by the Minister for Family and Equal Opportunities Elena Bonetti and widely approved by the Senate.

Will the measure have the desired effect? The future will tell.