Greek Reporter Daily Express — After nearly a decade of belt tightening, Greece is now facing a new crisis, low birth rates.
In order to maintain the population Greece needs a birth rate of 2.1 per woman, but this has dipped to between 1.1 and 1.3.
The current birth rate is at its lowest since the First World War, the data from the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital shows.
And it predicts roughly a fifth of women born in the 1970s will remain childless.The economic uncertainty is a big factor for couples in choosing whether or not to have children, with the Geek economy still not showing signs of a sustain recovery.
Official statistics from Greece show that 27 per cent of women are unemployed, another sign of Greece’s fragile economy.
Fertility clinic Minas Mastrominas said: “People say they can only afford to have one child – if at all.
“After eight years of crisis they are now burying their dreams.”Simon Tilford, director of the Centre for European Reform in London, said: “Small birth rates in the South will lead to weak growth and low productivity, which will push down the birth rate further and lead to further financial problems.”
Another factor at the forefront of potential parents’ mind is the cost of childbirth alone, which ranges from €800 and €1,500 euros.Some 60 per cent of patients have to fork out for their own medical care, which has seen the number of pregnancies reducing and child mortality rising due to the quality of care.
The mediterranean nation was hard hit by the financial crash and its economy is still recoveringIn a bid to avoid paying, Greek hospital have reported women giving false names and running away cradling their newborns to escape the bill.Low birth rate is a problem affecting much of southern Europe, including Portugal and Italy.
