Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan has regularly suggested families give birth to at least three children in order to increase Turkey's rate of population. When the drop in the rate of population was revealed through recent figures released by the Turkish Statistical Institute, Erdoğan decided to put his proposal in motion.
Upon Prime Minister Erdoğan's directives, the Turkish government is now working on incentives to promote childbirth. The AK Party group proposed forming a research commission aimed at increasing the rate of population growth which the General Assembly will be revising in the next few days. Erdoğan is advising deputies and organizations work locally to inform and relay the message that families should have three children. The commission will be hearing out specialists and inspecting global trends in order to determine what sort of measures can be taken to increase the population rate. The AK Party proposal points out that Turkey needs to have a 2.1 percent birth rate and stated, "It is possible to inform of the fact that based on scientific data on Turkey, in order to be able to maintain the current population's youth rate, families need to have more than two children." The proposal also underlines that by 2045, Turkey will have entered the elderly population category.
Prime Minister Erdoğan has brought up the issue with deputies from the southern Anatolian and Black Sea regions. The Prime Minister advises that deputies explain the vital importance of families having three children at meetings and every given opportunity. Erdoğan has also advised organizations to work in the same manner as well as meet with citizens to inform and discuss the issue in person.
INCENTIVES PACKAGE
The government is also currently preparing an incentives package geared towards promoting families to give birth to three children. The Family, Finance and Labor ministries are all working on the package and have established their main target group as being educated and career women. The model the three ministries are working on is based on the incentives offered in Scandinavian countries to increase the birth rate. The package will be released in the days to come.
Prime Minister Erdoğan's directive to create incentives has also resulted in an increase in the Social Security Administration's aid offered to mothers. A six lira rise has been implemented on the previously 89 TL, and now 94 TL, financial assistance offered by social security. Parents are able to apply for the aid from social security institutions and are paid out in advance. Each child born by a family is eligible for aid. Last year, 517,556 insured mothers benefited from this financial aid and temporary unemployment payments, to a total of 164,552,164 TL.