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Thursday,
July 26,
2007, #141 (1408) Leaders of the opposition New Rights party held a press conference in Kutaisi, where they warned that Georgia faces a demographic crisis—and presented a half billion lari plan to bolster the country’s population. Party leaders cited data from both The Economist and Georgian demographers showing that Georgia is facing one of the highest negative growth rates in the world. At the current rate, by 2050, the New Rights representatives claimed, the Georgian population will have shrunk by 2.1 million. The opposition politicians said that they would introduce a set of draft laws in parliament’s September session to tackle the problem. New Rights party member Manana Nachkebia, speaking to The Messenger, explained the details of the proposed policies. They want hospitals to provide free childbirth services, and state aid of GEL 300 monthly for every mother with three children, plus another GEL 100 a month for every extra child they have. “Also, we want paid maternity leave to be increased from four months to a year,” Nachkebia said. According to her, mothers currently receive paid maternity leave capped at GEL 600 a month. Beyond that, the New Rights also campaign for free medical care for every child under 14 years old. “We don’t ask for anything which is impossible to be financed from the state budget….If we [devote enough money] to these projects, the demographic problems will be solved in our county,” Nachkebia said. The combined cost of their proposals, she said, is GEL 500 million—over half of the country’s defence budget for 2007. The New Rights representative says that taking care of children first and foremost will have secondary benefits, impacting mortality and emigration rates. “If the child is socially defended by the state, the other members of the family will have more resources to think about their health and seek their own medical treatment…If the father knows that his children are taken care of, he won’t leave the country to provide for them,” Nachkebia added. |
Opposition Tackles Shrinking Population Through Health Care for Children