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Almost half of the baby bonus for 2022 went to children born abroad

Politiko 2023-06-14 08:05:18

Almost half of the baby bonus for 2022 went to children born abroad

The baby bonus, a financial reward for encouraging births that began to be applied in 2019, does not seem to have met the goal of encouraging births in the country.

Systematically, year after year, almost half of the amount has benefited from babies born abroad. The Albanian government turned into a financier of those born abroad, despite the fact that the babies were formally registered in Albania to receive the reward.

The Ministry of Health reported that last year the bonus was distributed to 42,504 babies, of which 17,816 or 42% were born abroad.

In total, the state budget financed the birth of babies with 3.1 billion lek (27 million euros), where almost half went to the families of Albanian immigrants abroad.

Last year, only 24,688 babies were born in Albania, while the bonus was distributed to more than 42 thousand babies. In 2022, births within the country marked a sharp decline of 9 percent, while compared to 2019, when the distribution of the bonus began, they fell by over 13%.

In January 2019, the government started providing immediate financial assistance (bonus) to mothers with newborn babies. For the first child, the bonus was 40,000 ALL, for the second child 80,000 ALL and for the third child 120,000 ALL for the birth of the third child and other following children;

For mothers who give birth to twins, the amount of benefit is 80,000 (eighty thousand) ALL for each child, while for mothers who give birth to triplets and more, the amount of benefit will be 120,000 ALL for each child. The government's decision has determined that immediate financial assistance is also available to Albanian mothers for children born abroad and registered according to the legal deadlines defined in the civil status law.

The registrar, attached to the hospital service institutions where the birth takes place, performs the online verification of the mother's status and registers the child born in the National Register of Civil Status (RKGjC) of 2010.

Since the bonus is massively benefiting from babies born abroad, the Ministry of Health initiated a new draft law that corrects the granting of the bonus to children born abroad. The new legal changes target the bonus only for babies born within the Albanian territory and not for all births that are registered in the civil registry.

Births in Albania are falling rapidly due to the decline in the fertility rate and the emigration of young people. Demographers call on the government to promote fertility and incentives for new families./ Monitor

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