Fertility growth, offsetting poverty and improving the situation of Polish families - these are the main tasks of the “Family 500+” programme, launched in April 2016 and extended in July this year. 

In 2017, the birth rate amounted to 1.45 and reached the highest level since 1997. In the previous year, it amounted to 1.44. With regards to the number of births - in 2017 a record 402 thousand children were born, a year later - 388 thousand. 

- This is a very good result, especially in a situation where the number of women of childbearing age is decreasing. Our data shows that Polish citizens are more willing to decide to have a second and another child. I would also like to point out that the demographic effects following the implementation of the “Family 500+” programme in terms of the number of births actually exceed our initial assumptions, i.e. they exceed the most optimistic variant of the number of births forecast by the Central Statistical Office,” explains Minister Bożena Borys-Szopa.

Opponents of the “Family 500+” programme are eager to cite the data indicating that poverty levels in Poland have increased in 2018, which is supposed to prove the ineffectiveness of the programme. It should be stressed, however, that this indicator is much lower today than it was before the introduction of the programme. The data collected by the Central Statistical Office shows that the extreme poverty rate in 2015-2017 has decreased from 6.5% to 4.3%, i.e. by approximately 34%. In 2018 it amounted to 5.4%.

- I would like to explain that, as it is crucial to indicate the wider context. Poverty is measured on the basis of household expenditure compared to the entire cohort of surveyed households. Therefore, if savings have increased - which may not have been the case among the poorest people in the past - poverty may theoretically increase. However, that is merely a statistical result, because the actual level of resources and access to goods of this household may have in fact increased - stresses Minister Bożena Borys-Szopa. 

The head of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy emphasizes that “Family 500+” is not the only programme aiming to support families. In addition to direct financial support (e.g. “Good Start”), the “Toddler+” programme must also be mentioned, as it provides increasingly greater access to care services and makes it possible to reconcile professional and family roles. It also includes an increasingly attractive Large Family Card, granting discounts for railway transportation, free admission to national parks, lower passport fees, as well as discounts on food, clothes, shoes, cosmetic products, books and petrol.