Why are Czechs having fewer children? What has happened to traditional family values? And can anything be done to reverse this trend? Similarly as in many other European states the population of the Czech Republic is decreasing, people are aging and not enough children are being born. By 2030 the number of pensioners will have doubled. In 50 years time there could be 2 million less Czechs and the biggest age group will be people in their 60s and 70s. Unless -that is -the government can find a way to encourage young people to have children.
In 50 years' time life in the Czech Republic could be very different from what it is today. It will be geared to the needs of the elderly. As the most strongly represented age group elderly people will decide who will be in government, Czech films will be about the concerns of the elderly and even advertisements will be different. Women will be proud to say "I'm only 50". That is the picture painted by the most recent demographic statistics. Will it come true?
The Czech government is determined to prevent that - or at least modify the impact of this trend. The 16 billion crowns that the newly introduced tax hikes will bring into state coffers are to be used for various forms of family support.
The Cabinet is thinking in terms of tax-reductions, housing aid and loans. We asked professor Vladimira Dvorakova from the Prague School of Economics what -if anything- could help:
"I think that it is possible to take some measures to increase the birth rate but they would have to be multi-dimensional. First I think it is a social question -a lack of flats or very expensive flats, much too expensive for young families. I can give you a specific example. There is a young man teaching at our university, a scholar whose salary allows him to pay the rent for a one room and kitchen apartment. There is no way he can even think about supporting a family. So it is a social problem and that could be helped. The second aspect that needs to be considered is the question of women and their careers. Specifically: the possibility for them to return to work after their maternity leave. It would help if women could be assured that they have a job to come back to, possibly just for several hours a day, for them to be able to remain in contact with their workplace and their work. This would encourage women to have a child or more children, because at present it is very difficult. If you like your work and want a career it is difficult to have two children as well. You loose almost everything to motherhood. And thirdly, there is also the problem of values - for motherhood and parenthood to be properly valued. I would say that the young generation does not think about it that way. They think more about entertainment, career opportunities ...children and family are not so important for them. And neither does society as a whole seem to value parenthood -like, you are a great person because you are rearing a family and taking good care of your children. "
That's rather a difficult thing to influence though -especially in the short term...
"Yes, because it is part of the political culture. So it's a long term perspective. But I think that nowadays when we see everything in terms of money -if there were to be some support for families with children, better pensions for women who had reared children it might help. Also it might help if politicians and important personalities spoke about it - that children and families are very important. I think that it could help. But you know -there is no one solution."
