The Italian government approved on Thursday (18) the decree regulating a social program that will pay a monthly benefit of up to 175 euros – the equivalent of R$1,1 at the current exchange rate – for each minor child.
One of the A similar initiative has been in effect since July 1st for low-income families, but will become universal from March 2022, replacing all other family aid distributed by the Italian government. Registration, however, begins on January 1st.
To currently receive the benefit, the family cannot have an Equivalent Economic Situation Indicator (ISEE), an instrument that measures living conditions based on annual income and assets, exceeding 50 thousand euros per year.
However, from 2022 the program will cover all people legally resident in Italy for at least two years, including immigrants. The value of the benefit will be calculated according to ISEE: families with an indicator of less than 15 thousand euros will earn 175 euros per child, and families with ISEE over 40 thousand euros will receive a floor of 50 euros (R$ 314).
These values will be adjusted to 85 (R$534) and 25 euros (R$157), respectively, for children between 18 and 21 years of age.
The program also provides bonuses for certain categories, such as mothers under 21 years of age (plus 20 euros per month per child, regardless of income) or low-income families with two working parents (plus 30 euros per child).
In addition, the government will pay an extra amount of 15 to 85 euros from the third child onwards, and another 100 euros from the fourth child onwards. A family with four children, for example, can receive more than a thousand euros per month (R$6,3), if they are low-income and both parents work.
The benefit will also be lifelong for families with disabled children, with an extra value of 105 euros per month for minors who are not self-sufficient, 95 euros for “severe disabilities” and 85 for “medium disabilities”. If the child is between 18 and 21 years old, the bonus will be 50 euros per month; and from the age of 21, between 25 and 85 euros, depending on family income.
The government estimates that the program will cost 15 billion euros in 2022, a figure that should reach almost 20 billion by the end of the decade.
“The universal single payment is a huge turnaround,” said Italy’s Disabilities Minister Erika Stefani.
The measure is also a way to stimulate birth rates in a country that has been experiencing consecutive negative records: there were only 404,1 thousand births in 2020, the lowest number ever recorded in the country and 16 thousand fewer than in the previous year. As a result, the Italian population has already fallen for six consecutive years.
To try to reverse the trend, successive governments have already implemented several measures to stimulate birth rates, although the country still prohibits practices that could encourage people to have children, such as homosexuals and singles having access to assisted reproduction procedures. (ANSA).
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