Draft bill: Romanian mothers may retire earlier

Romanian mothers may retire earlier if a new draft bill submitted to the Senate passes the Parliament’s vote and enters into force. The bill provides that, for each child born and raised at least until the age of 10, a woman can retire two years earlier. The bill was signed by MPs from the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE). They say in the motivation that “more and more women who work give up or postpone having a child because of economic considerations. The total fertility rate in Romania has dropped below the critical threshold, reaching a historical minimum of 1.428, which means a demographic decline in which the population is reduced by five Romanians each hour,” local Mediafax reported. The document also refers to the number of newborns, which dropped below 200,000 per year, for the first time in modern Romania. “At a national level, the drop in birth rate to 195,000 children is a historic minimum for modern Romania and will be followed by major social problems. If the same pace is maintained, in 15-20 years, both the labor market, which will remain without employees, and the health and pension budgets, which will need increasing support from the state budget, will be in difficulty,” reads the project. Romania loses over 10,000 people in a month Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com