Lithuania’s birth rate has been falling year after year, and the government has warned of a demographic crisis while trying to find ways to encourage people to expand their families.
Over the past five years, the number of children born in Lithuania has fallen by 6,000, or about 1,500 children per year. In 2024, more than 19,000 children were born in the country, while last year this number had fallen to 17,500 children. Experts have emphasized that education, career and financial stability are increasingly becoming priorities. Demographer Vytenis Juozas Deimantas noted that there is currently a lot of discussion about a new trend – short-term employment or temporary work contracts, which are often cited as the reason why young people, especially those aged 20 to 25, choose to postpone having children.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has said that the decline in the birth rate is a threat to national security and has indicated that initiatives for families are needed.
However, not everyone believes that the situation is so dire. Aleksandras Izgorodinas, chief economist at Citadele Bank, said that the demographic situation is exaggerated – with the economy growing, one can also see better migration trends, which means that, despite the political risks, more people are coming to Lithuania, including citizens who left the country ten or more years ago.
Nausėda has proposed applying a zero rate to personal income tax for people with two or more children
(although only up to the average salary). If parents receive an average salary in the country, which is around 1,400 euros after taxes, they would be exempt from paying personal income tax. The relief would be valid for five years. The president has also proposed corporate tax breaks for companies that employ parents with two or more children,
Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė has indicated that birth issues have been either ignored or viewed in a fragmented manner for a long time. The government has already agreed on some measures to promote birth rates. From June, the one-time childbirth benefit will be 1,036 euros, and parents without sufficient employment history will receive additional support.
According to Deimants, in Western countries, people often point out that benefits discourage having children because the costs of raising them are high, up to 80,000 euros by adulthood. He noted that the issue has been debated in economic and sociological literature for 50 years – whether children are an investment or a luxury.
Nevertheless, even moderate financial initiatives can be useful.
Swedbank’s chief economist Nerijus Mačiulis said that raising children is expensive in modern society, especially in cities. Thus, even if the benefits have only a small impact on birth rates, they are still important to support families with more children. The demographer added that measures to support increasing birth rates should be comprehensive – parents should be given the opportunity to take paid leave, and later create appropriate conditions to combine raising children with work.
Minister of Social Security and Labour Jūrate Zeilskienė pointed out that young people are not starting families because they are having difficulty finding suitable partners and there is a lack of opportunities to meet new people. She said that although it sounds like a joke, there is also talk of bringing back traditional discos, which are now visited by the middle and older generations to simply have fun. Somehow organizing something similar would allow young people to at least meet new people.
The government also plans to promote the birth rate through social campaigns and by introducing an award for the most family-friendly municipalities. Meanwhile, a group of MPs has proposed amendments to the Education Law so that schools can emphasize the importance of married families in their programs more – this will help to cope with the demographic crisis. There have also been calls to amend legislation affecting cultural policy and the public broadcaster LRT to require the creation of more content aimed at a positive portrayal of marriage. However, the parliament’s legal department has expressed doubts whether such recommendations are not contrary to the constitution, which defines family more broadly than just marriage.
Read the full article in English here: https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/2884198/state-sponsored-discos-lithuania-eyes-ways-to-get-people-to-have-more-children
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