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Germans get incentives for having babies
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When her water broke early on New Year's Eve, Julia
Gotschlich was mainly thinking about the imminent
birth of her second child. But she couldn't help
worrying about family finances, too.
She and her husband stood to lose out on more than
$13,200 if the baby arrived before midnight, when
Germany's generous new family benefits took effect —
part of a government effort to raise one of the
lowest birthrates in Europe.
Births in Germany dropped 4 percent in 2005 from the
previous year, according to figures from the Federal
Statistics Agency, to around 690,000. That's the
lowest since World War II and lagging even 1946,
when 922,000 babies were born even as the country
lay in ruins.
A recent government study forecast that Germany's
population will drop by as much as 16 percent by
2050, from the current 82.4 million to as little as
69 million. That could hurt the economy by sapping
the work force — and undermine the state pension
system. |
Emily Stueven, born on early Tuesday, Jan 2, 2007, is kissed by her mother Mandy. |
Facing such an
alarming demographic trend, the German government
has shaken up its financial assistance to parents in
a bid to make it easier for working women to have
children.
The new "Elterngeld" — or "parent money" — program
allows an adult who stops work after a child is born
to continue to claim two-thirds of their net wage,
up to a maximum $2,375 per month. Low earners can
claim 100 percent compensation for lost wages.
One parent can claim for up to 12 months; if both
parents take a turn, they can claim the benefit for
a total of 14 months — a tweak designed to encourage
more fathers to help.
Germany previously paid a flat $400 a month in
benefits to needy parents for up to two years. The
change is expected to raise the annual outlay in
direct payments for parents with infants by about
$1.2 billion per year to $5 billion.
Other countries have instituted similar incentive
programs to boost birthrates. France and Sweden both
pay child subsidies roughly equivalent to those in
Germany — but also have an extensive network of
low-cost childcare centers that take babies to
preschool-aged children.
France offers additional help to some families who
need in-home care. The Swedes give either moms or
dads 80 percent of their salary for a total of 480
days in a parental leave.
While the French had 12.7 new babies per 1,000
residents in 2004 and the Swedes 11.2, Germany
recorded only 8.5 new births — the lowest rate in
Europe not counting Vatican City.
Britain introduced a so-called "baby bonds" scheme
in 2004, giving a $490 voucher to every newborn to
start a trust fund, while a new Russian law entitles
families to a bonus of $9,600 following the birth of
a second child and any subsequent children.
Gotschlich's baby, Inka Angelina, held off just long
enough to qualify for the new German law, emerging
63 minutes into 2007. That means mom will be able to
finance a full year off from work as opposed to just
eight weeks with her first child.
"At first, I thought: 'Can't you wait a little
longer?'" Gotschlich said at Berlin's
Auguste-Viktoria Hospital.
As midnight approached, "the doctors and midwives
were encouraging me that maybe we would make it into
the new year after all, and we did," she said,
smiling at her daughter asleep in a bassinet at her
side.
There had been media reports about German women
taking magnesium tablets, which can prevent
premature labor, or putting off planned Caesarean
births to qualify for the new bonuses.
Klaus Grunert, a doctor at Auguste-Viktoria
Hospital, said some women avoided things thought to
help induce labor — from hot baths and massages to
sex. But he said none asked doctors to delay births,
which the doctors would have refused in any case.
Gotschlich and her husband, a software engineer,
decided to have a second child two years ago — long
before Chancellor Angela Merkel's left-right
coalition took power vowing to do more for families.
Although Gotschlich said the family will still earn
less than when both she and her husband worked, the
new incentive plan will make life easier.
"We'll have to see what kind of vacation we have
this year," she said. "We can still afford one,
though the car and the washing machine had better
not break down."
--Reuters
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