It will be a direct aid of €200 per month from the time the boy or girl is born until they are three years old. In other words, families at that time will receive 2,400 euros per year for each descendant. In this way, the Basque Government will try to tackle the low birth rate and the aging of the population that threaten the autonomous community with a crude “demographic winter”.
Because when we ask on the street, young Basques would like to have two children on average and be able to emancipate themselves shortly after turning 20 years old. However, surveys reveal that they end up emancipating after thirty, four years later than the European Union average, and have their first child after 32, which means that the maternity rate stands at 1.28.
It is not just a question of frustrated expectations. In the last 20 years, the working-age population of the Basque Country has been reduced by 92,000 people. The Basque Government calculates that it will be reduced by 220,000 more people in the next three decades. In other words, at this rate, in the year 2050 practically half of the population would be retired and with that proportion the current system of social policies would be unsustainable.
The amount of the benefit, announced today by Iñigo Urkullu in the plenary session on Demography held by the Parliament of Vitoria, already represents a significant improvement over the aid received now by new parents. Since 2018, the Basque Country has granted between 400 and 900 euros in a single payment when the first child is born. With the second the parents receive the same annual amount up to the age of three, and from the third the payment is made up to the age of six.
From now on, however, it will be a fixed monthly amount that families with a standardized income of less than 100,000 euros can take advantage of. It will enter into force in the year 2023, and will be compatible with the tax deductions, rental aid and conciliation measures that are in force. Thus, as explained by Urkullu, a family could receive up to 6,900 euros between benefits and tax deductions until the minor reaches the age of three.
Added to this measure is the already announced free education from zero years old or the authorization of zero-interest loans for entrepreneurship projects, training or housing for young people. In addition, the demographic perspective will be incorporated in the development of regulations, strategies or investment programs.
“There are no measures that by themselves have miraculous effects,” explained the Lendakari, but he hopes that this first announcement will serve to create “an ecosystem of favorable conditions for emancipation and family building.” The goal, he has assured, is to ensure that young Basques “have the children they want, when they want it, without forced delays due to lack of conditions.”
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