Here's a look at benefits offered in Europe for having a baby!!! FRANCE..Mothers with a modest imcome get a bonus of nearly $1,060 for each newborn, as well as smaller monthly payments until a child's 3rd birthday and hel;p with childcare costs. In july benefits to help parents with 3 or more children went into effect, giving a $983 monthly payment to those who take one year's unpaid leave from work, or $672 a month for up to 3 years of unpaid leave!! BRITAIN..In 2004, the government introduced a "baby bopnds" program, giving a $490 voucher to start a trust fund!! SPAIN..The government provides no cahs handouts for births but gives families a tax break that amounts to about $397 per year. Families with three or more children recieve discounts on public transportation!! ITALY..The government has given a $1,323 bonus for each child born after the first one. Last year, the bonus was offered only to families earning less than $66,155 a year. The 2007 budget drops the baby bon us but forsees increased tax write-offs for families with children and other child benefits!! RUSSIA This year the gov. began paying a bonus of $9,600 for efvery child born, after the first one..the money is to be used for housing or education!! SERBIA The gov. has provided subsidized kindergartens and an occasional incentive to cash-strapped couples. In keeping with a communist-era tradition, working mothers enjoy a year of maternity leave with wages marginally lower than their usual salaries!! HUNGARY..Last year the government began offering new parents a tax-free savings bond worth $212, kept in a special bank account until the child turns 18. Parents can make yearly deposits of up to $635, with the gov. mathcing part of the fund. Two extra payments of $160 at ages 7 and 14!! SWEDEN..Since 1948, Sweden has made a monthly cash payment for each child under 16 The child allowance now starts at $155. In 2001, the gov. increased the allowance for large families..parents with 3 children recieve $530 a month, and those with 4 get $$811. Parents also get a combined 480 days of paid leave for their firstborn!! NETHERLANDS...The gov. provides a quartely stipend of about $210 beginning three months after the baby's birth!! THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
I think it is a good idea, France in pariticular is doing this to encourage people to have more children to bring a better shape to the overall demographics. They're trying to aim for a wider birth rate with a smaller death rate so that way in 30 years time, there will be more economically active people than people depending on the state. And the other countries are doing it for the similiar reasons too.
It is a good idea to give benefits for kids, but if you really think of it simple, it's just paying humans to do something completely natural, and it's also basically paying people to make their country have more "power" and then the question is raised "why do you want more power, and what do you need the power for?"
the only problem with stuff like this is whats going on alot in aus atm. girls like 14 n 15 are having babies simply to give them away for adoption because they get to keep the $3000 baby bonus. many kids are being born and then abandoned or born into unstable homes with unlovingg mothers who see them as a ticket to get money. its quite sick.
wow, thats horrible that people would do that for the money. i have mixed feelings about baby bonuses. on one hand its nice to help families out, on the other its saying the jobs in the country dont pay enough for people to support a family i know one thing steven harper did here was to throw money at parents for child care (20 bucks a week, wowie!) but the liberal plan for universal day care was a much better idea. im also weary of anything that is promoting more people having more children. the planet is over populated as it is and already there arent enough resources to go around. i know the birth rate is on a decline, but were in no danger of going extinct in the near future. at least not because we arent reproducing enough... :lol:
Well, countries could encourage immigrations into their country but that only goes a long way. They need to have a higher birth rate to ease the pressure that the old people will be putting on the people who are working for the state. I mean lets say 20 people work to give $800,000 a year. The government will have to spend at least 40% of that on old people and ensuring their health, the rest of it goes on the rest of the people but it just wouldnt be enough. So more people is needed to provide more money for the government so the non-working people( old people) wont be burdening the governmetn as much. Hence the need to get a higher birth rate. They will find a compromise on the birth rate, they wont want everyone to produce 20 babies in their lifetime and end up with a few million too many people.
There should definately be rules/guidlines of some sort.. not just giving anyone money to have a baby .. but the U.S. could get a clue, and help struggling moms and couples.. with the at least more maternity leave.. I believe it's only 6 week's here.. so every opportunity, could be a blessing or a bad thing
I don't like the idea of people getting paid to have babies we are stuggling enough as it is in this country with our own population, that would be more [incentive I my opinion] for 14 and 15 year-olds to have children and EVEN WORSE their parents to totally take advantage of $$$ that comes. yes rules and guidlines but I think what people envisioned with the idea of propetuating the WHITE/SUBURBAN/MIDDLE CLASS and what reality are is two different things JUST SAY NO!
the last thing australia needs is more immigrants. i like the laws in china about one child per family, because seriously that country is way over populated. what i HATE with a passion is that they come here so have more kids and have huge families. seriouls i walk outside sometimes and its like spot the aussie, there are more imigrants than aussies, and while i may sound racist, if i wanted to live in a foreign country i would move there. i want to live in australia with australians. the temptation for young people to have babies simply for money is much to great, there should be laws about who is allowed the money and who isnt. tempting teens that are addicted to drugs and alcohol with money to feed their addiction by bringing unloved children into the world, is the last thing the world needs.
You do realise that without immigrants, your economy would just simply fail? I mean, those immigrants, sorry for this, does the work that no austrilian wants to do and basically holds up the economy from the bottom. They are not sponging off the government but contributing to it. Are you? So I dont think you can say that them producing large families is a bad thing, the more children they have, the more people will be able to work in 20/30 years time. After all, Austrialia only has 10 million for such a big country... I dont see anything wrong with immigrants migrating to an very sparse country but a country like the UK? Maybe but Australia? Nothing. And it is a bit hyprocrital saying you dont want immigrants in your country when you are in fact are a product of immigrants of generations ago. And China only has The One Child Policy, due to the fact that the country do not have the resources to feed/look after them all which I find respectable. They don't force it on their people because they just feel it, y'know.
^We have the same system. I think it has nothing to do with _to_get_more_babies_ but society supporting those who have kids. in Finland parents get that until kid turns 17. Norway has also the same thing. It is 100€ - 172€/month (per child) and single parents get 36,60€/month extra. I think all these are great... I mean, if you have to quit your job when you are pregnant and stay home to take care od the kids - you lose your income! You still need to feed your kids and pay the bills. Finland has lots of different parental leaves and stuff ...umm maternity leave starts 30-50 days before child is born and lasts 105 (work)days. Parental leave starts when maternity leave ends, both mom and dad can take it and it lasts 158 days (they can take turns) and they get some amount of money that time. Dads can also get 18 days of..some leave while mom is on maternity leave...also get some benefit from it. Then there is nursing leave (right word?) if you have a child under 3-yrs old in your house
i know of many aussies that cant find jobs because they are all taken by immigrants who are willing to work for less then minimum wage. they hold up the economy because they can. i may sound racist but its really shit me up the effing wall. its getting worse, in some part of melbounre its like china. and i hate it.
^Finns are also very expensive workforce so we have lots of Estonian and Russians working here. And then factories 'n stuff hire them because they are cheaper Like one slaughterhouse that has always got local youth work for summer - took every summerperson from Estonia. It's tad annoying. But they are usually individuals and not large families. In 10-15 years from now our biggest group of people will retire and we'll be fucked with _non_exisistant_workforce_
There are some who do work for lower than the minimum wage when they've entered the country illegally but there will be most who are working for the same minimum wage. But also, immigrants do the jobs that NO ONE..not even australians wants to do. They are the ones that hold up the economy itself. Ducky, your country could finally completely open its arms and encourage immigration for once if they want to solve the more non-economically active people than economically active people problem. OR...if you want to share the problem with Sweden, could merge into one country to make it easier!
There is nothing wrong with our immigration. Oh yes, we send illegal immigrants back home! That must be the problem!