Italy earmarks €1 billion to boost dwindling birthrate

Inspired by the ‘Hungarian model’, the Italian government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has approved a new budget earmarking €1 billion to encourage an increase in birth rates and introduce a new range of measures to support families and women as a worrying downward trend threatens to undermine the national welfare system.

Measures include financial aid for female workers with at least two children, extending optional parental leave, and increasing the daycare fund but only for second children.

“We want to establish that a woman who gives birth to at least two children has already made an important contribution to society, and therefore, the state partly compensates by paying social security contributions”, Meloni said.

“We want to dismantle the narrative that birthrate is a disincentive to work. We want to incentivise those who give birth to children and want to work”, Italy’s first female prime minister added.

Meloni’s government has repeatedly stressed the importance of policies to encourage birth rates, especially as Italy has recorded some of Europe’s lowest birth rates for decades. In 2022, Italy reached a new all-time low with 393,000 births, 2% less than the previous year, with a negative natural balance of 320,000, ISTAT figures read.

Also contributing to this trend is the progressive ageing female population of child-bearing age and an increase in the average age of women giving birth to 32.2 years. Between 1964 and 2020, the average number of children per woman fell from 2.66 to 1.24.

Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgietti (League/ID) sounded the alarm regarding the Italian welfare system as early as this summer, calling the current financial manoeuvre “complicated”.

“The birth rate issue is fundamental. There is no welfare reform that holds in the medium to long term with the birth rate numbers we have in this country today”, the minister explained.

Glance at Orban’s Hungary

According to Meloni, Hungary has always been a “perfect example” of a country investing in family support, a position she reiterated during her speech at the Budapest Demographic Summit hosted by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in September.

“The Italian government has as its top priority the number of births and support for families. For a future that is better than the present”, said Meloni, who speaks of a “great battle” to defend families and therefore “identity, God and all the things that have built our civilisation”.

Italy is looking to Orban’s Hungary to emulate its decisions and make the necessary investments, but at the moment, efforts seem insufficient with rising inflation and high living costs that have severely eroded families’ purchasing power.

The low female employment rate, economic uncertainty, job insecurity, low wages (especially for women) and the structural lack of childcare facilities continue to be among some of Italy’s outstanding yet major problems.

(Federica Pascale | Euractiv.it)