Aid of 50,000 hryvnias will not increase the desire to have children: demographer explained the problem
Kyiv • UNN
The Verkhovna Rada adopted a bill on a one-time payment of 50,000 hryvnias upon the birth of a child starting from 2026. Demographer Svitlana Aksyonova believes that this amount will not affect the demographic situation due to the war, but it can support some categories of women and families.
Yesterday, November 5, the Verkhovna Rada adopted in the second reading and in general a draft law that provides for a one-time payment of 50,000 hryvnias upon the birth of a child starting from 2026. Will this law encourage Ukrainian couples to have more children, and will it have a positive impact on the demographic situation in Ukraine? We tell you about it in the UNN material.
Childbirth assistance
There cannot be an unambiguous effect of this increase. On the one hand, the need to increase state payments for childbirth has been long overdue. Since 2014, the amount of payment established then has not changed until now. That is, for 11 years, the amount of this assistance remained unchanged. If in 2014, at the time of its establishment, this amount was equal to 40 subsistence minimums, now, according to my calculations, it was 16 subsistence minimums. That is, it has lost its significance for the family as real assistance?
The scientist added that in the past, parents immediately received 11,000 hryvnias. The rest of the amount was then divided into monthly contributions, which were by no means enough to ensure proper care and attention for the child.
"If we take into account that an amount of 11,000 was immediately issued, and the rest of the amount was evenly distributed over three years, and the family received about 860 hryvnias monthly – then we understand that such an amount, as assistance for childcare, cannot satisfy all the problems that a family faces when caring for a child. So we understand that such an increase was extremely necessary," Aksyonova explained.
50,000 UAH to be paid at birth: Rada adopted decision05.11.25, 13:19 • 25276 views
One-time payment for childbirth
According to Svitlana Aksyonova, the decision to issue the entire amount at once to cover the primary needs associated with childbirth is a very correct step.
"When a child is born, many needs arise, and the family will be able to receive these 50,000 immediately and satisfy certain important needs," the scientist emphasized.
At the same time, Aksyonova expressed her conviction that these 50,000 are clearly not enough for full assistance, because after the birth of a child, one of the family members will not work, but will stay with the baby. Therefore, the family will have less money.
Is these 50,000 enough for the family to feel this help – in my opinion, no. We understand how high prices are now, especially for children's goods. Therefore, to say that this amount will really ease the situation in the family when a child is born, even if we talk about a family with a high income level, it is still always a tense period. After all, one of the spouses has to stay at home and take care of the child. The number of breadwinners decreases, and the number of mouths increases. And in the case of twins, there are two of them.
Will monetary payment encourage having children?
At the same time, Aksyonova is convinced that the amount of 50,000 hryvnias will not be able to radically affect the demographic situation, as the war continues in the country. The main reason why many married couples hesitate to have children is uncertainty about the future due to the war.
"Will this assistance have an effect on the birth rate, will it be able to increase the desire to have children? In my opinion, it will not have that effect. Not only because these are insignificant amounts, but also because the war continues in the country. A period of complete uncertainty continues. This greatly affects the intentions to have a child, or to postpone it for some time. Security factors play too great a role here," Aksyonova noted.
However, the scientist suggests that financial assistance may influence the decision of some women to have children. In particular, this refers to those who, due to their age, can no longer wait for the end of the war, as they will lose the biological ability to give birth.
"We have a certain cohort of women who have been postponing childbirth for a very long time. And it is precisely for them that it is very important to have this assistance from the state in order to decide on this step. They understand that they cannot postpone until the end of the war, because their biological capabilities will be lost. Then they will not be able to realize these intentions. Therefore, in view of this, such financial assistance may somewhat contribute," Aksyonova believes.
Also, the category of people whose decision may be influenced by financial assistance includes those families in which parents have one child but want to decide on a second.
"Our experience convinces us that such payments work in families where there was a need for a larger number of children. That is, if a family had reproductive plans to have, for example, two children, and they had one, then this assistance can push them to still realize these plans," Svitlana Aksyonova explained.
On the other hand, there are families who already have two or more children and have decided to stop. Most likely, even a larger amount of financial support will not be able to encourage them to have more children in such a case.
But where there is no such need – even really large expenses may not work. If a family has had two children and the parents believe that having two children is already super cool – then payments are unlikely to encourage them to have a third child. But if they believe, somewhere else they are thinking about a third child, then these payments have a good effect on such families.