31.10.2023
Measures to combat the demographic crisis are now starting to yield first results. This is what Prime Minister Acad. Nikolai Denkov said at a meeting on this subject with MEP Sergei Stanishev.
The last two regular elected governments launched a number of measures to ensure better working conditions, higher wages and improvement of the Bulgarians’ reproductive health. Low birth rate, low wages and migration are namely the three main causes for the demographic crisis in Bulgaria, as shown in a study commissioned by Mr. Stanishev, which he presented to the Prime Minister.
The measures taken include the increase of the minimum monthly salary from BGN 650 in 2021 to BGN 933 to be paid from 1 January 2024. To help couples with fertility problems the sum of BGN 5,000 payable by the government for in vitro fertilization was increased to become BGN 6,000 in this year’s national budget. The budget for preventive healthcare likewise increased. The Ministry of Health is writing a calendar for preventive checkups. In the field of education, activities are continuing under the national program “Together in Arts and Sports” that started in 2022 and owing to which students go in for sports, engage in creative activities and become socialized. The program for the construction, vertical and horizontal extension and refurbishing of nurseries, kindergartens and schools has been continued. In 2024-2026, another BGN 240 million will be allocated to ensure the nursery and kindergarten attendance of all children. The first results of these measures are visible with the rise of the fertility rate (i.e. the average number of live births per woman of childbearing age) in the country. In 2013-2021, the rate moved smoothly from 1.48 to 1.58, while National Statistical Institute data of 2022, last year, show a significant rise to 1.78. The fertility rate was the lowest in 1997 at 1.09.
The approach must be systematic, Acad. Nikolai Denkov stressed. “Demographic policy should be among the top priorities and could and should be the basis for the drawing up of the government’s program of rule for the post-2024 period,” the Prime Minister said.
Sergei Stanishev substantiated the need to reach a political consensus on demography. The Prime Minister proposed that a national conference be held on demographic problems and the possible solutions to them early next year, with attendance from all political parties, social partners and MEPs. “It is a national task, not a partisan task, to seek solutions,” Acad. Nikolai Denkov emphasized.
The Prime Minister and Sergei Stanishev agreed that demography should be the new national goal for the country. One of Mr. Stanishev’s proposals called for additional actions to enlarge the National Maternity and Child Health Program under the Ministry of Health with measures for all-inclusive maternal and fetal care for pregnant women and the implementation of a National Program for Preventive Checkups for men and women in the 18-40 age group. The idea was discussed to appoint a senior political official to be directly responsible for the portfolio and to coordinate the cabinet’s work on this matter.
