Poverty, not benefits: what really affects fertility in Ukraine

Darya Kasyanova, head of the board of the Ukrainian Child Rights Network and a PhD in demography, sociology, economics and politics, told BBC Ukraine that she believes the increased payments will not significantly affect the birth rate.

“Still, now people think first of all about security, whether they can provide it to their own children. So I think it’s more a matter of overcoming the very high poverty of families with children, child poverty,” Kasyanova said.

She is convinced that an increase in social benefits should be made simultaneously with the introduction of a system for early detection of families in difficult life circumstances.

“Early detection is when the family and child support system sees the first signs of problems in the family. Job loss or dangerous addictions. Accordingly, it is about the development of various services: social, medical, educational, and legal. When a family in crisis does not rely on payments, but can get this help for free.”

According to Daria Kasyanova, the payments and the early detection system should work in an integrated and parallel manner.

The expert says that studies do not show a significant correlation between government payments and fertility. All the cases when Ukraine significantly increased child benefits did not show a significant increase in the birth rate.

Read the full story about the increase in the amount of maternity benefits on the BBC Ukraine website.