Belarus to raise social prestige of maternity and large families
At a government meeting, tackling the formation of a new mechanism to provide state support to families with kids, President Alexander Lukashenko stressed that today’s family support system has produced some good results. Belarus managed to stop a birth rate decline which was seen in the 1990s and to achieve some positive dynamics.
Marusenko large family
“These showings are positive but still weak,” said the Head of State. In his words, the birth rate should be considerably higher in the country, and a number of problems should be addressed for this issue.
First of all, it’s not a secret that the demographic situation is largely dependable on the sex-age structure of the population. Unfortunately, the number of women of reproductive age is going down. The number of potential mothers is falling from year to year. Every possible effort should be taken to enhance the social prestige of maternity and large families in society.
Secondly, in his words, about 70 percent of families in the country have only one child and this serves as a constraining factor. According to the Head of State, the situation can be changed by strengthening the country’s commitment to the long-term support of families with two and more children.
“It’s an issue of national security, if you like. If we do not have enough people, then there will be no use talking about independence,” stressed the President.
Mr. Lukashenko underlined that the existing measures of State support for families with children were systematised, and the proposals to stimulate the birth rate were formulated. The meeting discussed in detail the proposed mechanisms.
“Our task is to develop additional measures, both for short- and long-term, to stimulate and increase the Belarusian population,” noted the President.
Speaking about the support of mothers and families raising children, Mr. Lukashenko noted, “Two children is a must. The birth of three and four children should be encouraged. As we keep abolishing subsidies, the money will be used for this purpose. At least, as long as I am President, this issue won’t be neglected.” The Head of State ordered to pay due attention to this field. He added, “Even if we don’t have any money to provide subsidised housing loans and run housing construction projects, we will give the last money we have to families with many children so that they could build housing. This is our position.”Moreover, Mr. Lukashenko proposed to unite all measures designed to support families that raise children into one law. The President noted that for now, all the measures to support children are stipulated in different legal acts. The President said he would like every family, who gave birth to their first child, to be able to read the law and see what specific benefits they will get from the government for giving birth to three children, for instance.
The Head of State also said that the bill may need to be published before it comes into force for the sake of discussion. “I’m confident that people will be able to give us a tip or two. And if it is acceptable from the point of view of today’s finance, we will go for it,” noted Mr. Lukashenko.
