Women from Romanian village get paid to have babies

Faced with a rapid decrease of the local population, the authorities in a Romanian village have decided to offer financial incentives to families that have babies. The Balanesti commune in Gorj county is facing a huge demographic problem as 47 people died last year, and only two babies were born. Under these circumstances, the local authorities have decided to find a way to convince the women living in the village to have babies. Thus, the city hall decided to grant women who give birth a financial incentive of RON 2,500 (some EUR 560) over a period of one year, which translates into a monthly allowance of some RON 200 (EUR 47). "I was thinking that such a financial incentive would increase the birth rate in Balanesti. 47 people died last year and only two babies were born, and we already have 14 deaths registered this year. I decided to propose the RON 2,500 incentive for women who give birth to a first and second child, money that will be paid monthly by the City Hall, over a year, which means that they will receive less than RON 200 per month," said mayor Ovidiu Pungan, cited by local Mediafax. The Local Council approved this measure, and this means that the women who have a first or second baby can already claim the incentive. The state also pays a RON 200 monthly allowance for children until they reach the age of 2. After that, the allowance is RON 84 (EUR 18.8) per month. Romania's Parliament recently changed the parental leave benefits for parents who stay at home to take care of their newborn. The new rules state that one the parents can chose to stay at home until the baby reaches the age of two. The state pays the parents 85% of their average salaries prior to the child's birth. However, this measure has little effect in rural areas, where the unemployment rate is high and few people have stable jobs. Over 14,800 babies were born in Romania in March this year, 1,200 more than in February, according to recent data from the National Statistics Institute. However, the natural growth remained negative as 22,171 people died in March. Romania’s demographics: How many babies were born in the country in 2015? Romania’s demographic time-bomb: Number of newborns constantly lower than number of deaths Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com