| Submit your comments on this article |
| Europe |
| Finland’s Welfare State Has a Massive Baby Problem |
| 2017-09-20 |
| [BLOOMBERG] You know you've got a problem when even the best don't have the solution. Finland, a first-rate place in which to be a mother, has registered the lowest number of newborns in nearly 150 years. The birth rate has been falling steadily since the start of the decade, and there's little to suggest a reversal in the trend. Demographics are a concern across the developed world, of course. But they are particularly problematic for countries with a generous welfare state, since they endanger its long-term survival. For Heidi Schauman, the statistics are "frightening." "They show how fast our society is changing, and we don't have solutions ready to stop the development," the Aktia Bank chief economist said in a telephone interview in Helsinki. "We have a large public sector and the system needs taxpayers in the future." To do that, the fertility rate should equal two per woman, Schauman says. It was projected at 1.57 in 2016, according to Statistics Finland. That's a surprisingly low level, given the efforts made by the state to support parenthood. Perhaps nothing illustrates those better than Finland's famous baby-boxes. Introduced in 1937, containers full of baby clothes and care products are delivered to expectant mothers, with the cardboard boxes doubling up as a makeshift cot. The idea behind the maternity packages was prompted by concerns over high infant mortality rates in low-income families. The starter kits were eventually extended to all families. Offering generous parental leave and one of the best education system in the world doesn't seem to be working either. According to the OECD, Finland already has the lowest ratio of youths to the working-age population in the Nordics. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 How are migrants from cultures with near zero GDP going to make a country with a high GDP richer? |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2017-09-20 12:29 |
| #4 "Finland, a first-rate place in which to be a mother, has registered the lowest number of newborns in nearly 150 years. The birth rate has been falling steadily since the start of the decade, and there's little to suggest a reversal in the trend. Demographics are a concern across the developed world, of course. But they are particularly problematic for countries with a generous welfare state, since they endanger its long-term survival." There's a simple, time-proven solution to that problem: import large numbers of Muslims from failed third-world shitholes. They breed like rats and will generate lots of tax revenue to support the continuance of the welfare state. There are some downsides (random explosions and whatnot), but no matter. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2017-09-20 07:56 |
| #3 So how's that Nordic Socialism looking now? Great for a couple generations, then flat lining making room for new people to move in. It's mother nature's feature, not a bug. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2017-09-20 07:26 |
| #2 The belief that genders are interchangeable, has it costs. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2017-09-20 06:53 |
| #1 Ponzi schemes always fail |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2017-09-20 04:44 |