In recent years, statistics show, couples think twice before having a child. For this reason, in the first semester of 2023, just over 73,000 children were born in Romania, the lowest number of newborns in the last 145 years.
Money needed to raise a child PHOTO SOURCE Shutterstock
Experts who have studied this phenomenon in developed countries have attributed this decline to several factors, including changing lifestyles due to economic prosperity. This prosperity comes with increased expectations about the quality of life for us and our children.
Thus, many parents who want a larger family may find that this becomes a financial challenge.
How much does it cost to raise a child for 19 years
According to the information obtained by ClubulCopiilor.ro, following a study that focused on determining the cost associated with raising a child in Romania, from birth to the age of 19, i.e. finishing high school, the total cost of raising a child born in 2024, adjusted at the inflation rate, it is estimated at 594,070 lei.
For the second child, a family will spend a considerably smaller amount, 417,989 lei. Thus, couples who decide to have two children will have a cost of at least one million lei to raise them until they finish high school.
The starting point of the study is an analysis made in 2018 by Syndex Romania and the Quality of Life Research Institute, which calculated the minimum consumption basket for a decent living for the population of Romania.
As part of the research, Syndex Romania and the Quality of Life Research Institute determined the necessary quantities and minimum prices for food, clothing, footwear, personal hygiene and household products valid in 2018. ClubulCopiilor.ro used these prices in its analysis, adjusting them using the annual consumer price indices provided by the National Institute of Statistics.
Is this a reason why Romanians have fewer and fewer children?
The quality of life is an aspect that Romanians take more and more into account in recent years, say psychologists. Thus, a family will take into account the financial side when deciding whether to have one or more children or not to have children at all.
,Certainly, mentalities have changed. Before having a child, a couple thinks about whether they are able to maintain it, to give it everything it needs to grow up healthy and harmonious. 10-15 years ago, these things mattered less, they were not taken into account, a situation that is still encountered today, especially in rural areas. But the rural population also started to migrate, in the last decade, to urban areas. In the end, it also depends on the level of education. The financial part is an essential element, nowadays, when we decide whether we can have a child“, stated Andreea Coman, clinical psychologist.
