The problem of low birth rate is exacerbated - A danger signal from the Parliament

Today's session of the Ad Hoc Parliamentary Committee on the Study of the Demographic Problem dealt with the issue of under-birth rate.

As ELAM MP Linos Papagiannis, Chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee, stated after the meeting, the committee has been sending a memorandum to all the relevant Ministries for a month now, with proposals on the subject, which was based on the views of the competent bodies. "We have not received any official response so far from the government, but we have been informed about some of the government's intentions and unfortunately there are Ministries that have not even considered the issue," said the ELAM MP.

Referring to statistics, Mr. Papagiannis stated that the number of births of Cypriots in 2011 was 8.541 compared to 1.873 births by foreigners, while since the beginning of 2022 and until today, 1.684 Cypriots and 520 foreigners have been born. "If we compare the numbers, one can easily understand that on this scale there is a downward trend for Cypriots compared to foreigners. "The fact that today Cyprus has a birth rate of 1,4%, which is not enough even to replenish the population, is particularly problematic and becomes even more, as the increase observed compared to last year mainly concerns foreigners", he added.

"Also, an aging population is a phenomenon that is unfortunately increasing, there are more people over 65 compared to children under 16 and another very negative element is that we are the second worst country in the EU in this number." Mr. Papagiannis underlined and called on the Government to take immediate decisions as "in a few years we will have no more room to talk about this issue so comfortably. We are not going to stop our efforts as a committee, the intention has been heard to register the issue in Chapter D for further pressure and I believe that in the immediate future the Government must give some answers ".

Asked about the viability of the Social Insurance Fund, Mr. Papagiannis said that there is no risk until 2080 based on analysis.

DISY MP Prodromos Alampritis stated that in terms of the issue of low birth rate, some steps have been taken in recent years by the government, which they welcome. "We welcome the new housing policy from the Ministry of Interior that will help young couples. "We are waiting for the bill from the Ministry of Labor for the paid parental leave, as we welcome the proposal for covering the nurseries of children in kindergartens and children's clubs until the age of four", he stated.

"But more needs to be done. "We expect the submission of the third demographic policy plan by the demographic policy body to come before us and to discuss it in the Commission together with the suggestions made by the Commission recently", he added.

Regarding the incentives for new families, Mr. Alampritis said that "we must subsidize the births, especially for the third and fourth child because the indicators presented are relentless", adding that "we must support the three children and large families with revision where possible of income criteria for child benefits and baby dowry. We need to see how we proceed with the adoption of the all-day school to support new families and help balance work with family life. "

DIKO MP Zacharias Koulias stated that the issue of low birth rate "should be a matter of national policy and should be included in the national income, as it is included for the Defense", while he added that an amount should be determined to be invested in the issue of births , as "births have fallen below the safety threshold and we have crossed the red lines long ago".

"Finally, the state must make sure that the issue of childbirth allowances starts from the first child, that there is a serious fund, e.g. 5.000, in the second to become 6.000 or 7.000, in the third to go up another two thousand and so on. In addition, a critical issue, we will not make a horizontal policy for all births, it must be specifically for the Cypriot citizens. "If we do not take immediate measures, our future is predetermined", concluded Mr. Koulias.

Source: KYPE