Births down, but bonus spending up 25% over 11-month plan

2023-12-26 07:26:00, Ekonomi CNA

In September of this year, the Parliament of Albania approved a law according to which babies born abroad do not receive the bonus made available by the government.

This initiative came about because more than 45 percent of the annual budget fund went to children born abroad, at a time when the instrument was taken to stimulate the birth rate for those living in Albania.

Although the births in Albania have recorded an annual decrease of 12 percent in the 9th month of 2023 and the law limits the granting of the bonus abroad, the expenses in this item increased in the 11th month both with the plan of the period and as in the fact of last year.

According to data from the Ministry of Finance, during January-November 2023, about 3 billion lek (29 million euros) were allocated as a bonus for babies. This amount was 25 percent higher than the 11-month plan and 7 percent more than the actual last year.

Official INSTAT data show that in the 9th month of this year, 16,300 babies were born across the country with a 16% decrease compared to the 9th month of 2022.

Data from the Ministry of Finance show that from 2019, when the payment for the baby bonus came into effect, until November 2023, 146 billion lek or 140 million euros have been paid from the state budget. The annual data consulted on the number of births within the country show that over 45 percent of this amount, about 65 million euros, went to births abroad.

Demographers suggest that the most effective policies for increasing births are those that reduce the cost of living for young families. For example, in Albania, young families are facing increasing expenses for preschool education, high rents and in suburban areas. The high costs associated with raising children, such as education, health care, housing, and child care, can discourage couples from having more children.

Demographers suggest that economic development should be distributed towards the regions, since population movements from the periphery to the center are inversely related to economic resources. A balanced regional development and a package of pro-family policies would, in the longer term, improve fertility indicators.

In developed countries, which have experienced population decline before us, the combination of emigration and declining births, which cause population decline and change in its structure, can have harmful effects on the sustainable development of the country.

In an aging population, companies invest less for the future, as workers over 50 tend to accumulate savings to finance their retirement./ Monitor.al