The start of financial support for families with more than three children, to address the low birth rate, was announced at a press conference on Thursday by Archbishop George of Cyprus. Speaking at his office in the Archdiocese, he said that the support will be based on criteria, while the application will be submitted electronically and will be applied retroactively from January 1, 2025, on a Cyprus-wide basis.
Specifically, the Archbishop stated that within the framework of the Holy Archdiocese of Cyprus' Plan to address low birth rates, "1500 euros will be given upon the child's baptism, 1000 euros upon registration in Primary School, 1000 euros upon registration in Middle School and 1000 euros upon registration in High School, while each year vouchers of 100 euros for Easter and 100 euros for Christmas will be given until the age of 18."
According to the Plan, eligible children are defined as those born after January 1, 2025 to eligible parents and are the third and older child in the family in order of birth.
"We have understood the importance of births in renewing ourselves as a population, especially now that we have a problem with our continued existence as Greeks in this land," said the Archbishop, adding that the Church has some potential from some of the income it has through the utilization of its property.
To this problem, he continued, the Church wanted to contribute initially with approximately 2 million per year and "the amount will increase over time," stating that "if the plan succeeds, we will see better how to strengthen it. Some have already approached us and expressed their readiness to support the plan."
He also clarified that every 2-3 years the plan will be reviewed and may be amended.
Then the financial director of the Archdiocese, Dimos Dimou, providing more information, said that in order for the plan to be sustainable and effective, it was based on "various financial assumptions that have to do with the financial capacity of the Holy Archdiocese of Cyprus."
"The goal is common, to address the low birth rate and increase births in our country," he said, while referring for detailed information to the website https://www.epidomateknou.iak.org.cy where the application will be submitted.
The Archdiocese's deputy financial director, Marios Stavrou, referred extensively to the criteria of the plan, saying that "one of the two parents of the beneficiary child must be an Orthodox Christian and hold an identity card of the Republic of Cyprus, the family of the beneficiary child must have permanent residence in Cyprus, the child's parents must have been married in a church wedding in an Orthodox church and the parents must have at least three children including the beneficiary child, who was born after January 1, 2025 and baptized as an Orthodox Christian."
During the press conference, it was also reported that it is estimated that from 2025 to 2039 the Archdiocese of Cyprus will pay the parents of eligible children vouchers worth approximately 28 million euros and financial grants in excess of 44 million euros, with the total expenditure reaching 72 million euros.
For 2025, it is estimated that an amount of 2 million euros will be allocated.
Finally, the Municipality of Dimos thanked the Statistical Service and the Ministry of Labor for the close cooperation so that the implementation of the Plan could begin.
