Lawmakers look for incentives to improve demography

The House of Representatives has received draft legislation, proposing to raise financial assistance to the families that produce the first child, up to 5 living wage rates.

If families give birth to the second and more children, they would be entitled to the increase of up to 7 living wage rates, the speaker of the House, Uladzimir Kanapljou told the media. Demography remains one of the acute issues in Belarus, he said.

For the Belarusians to survive as a nation, the population should be increased at least twofold. Kanapljou noted that more marriages and less divorces had been reported in this country in the past years.

Last year, the birth growth was on the rise, the first time over the past 17 years. The share of families that have only one child in Belarus presently amounts to 59 percent.