No clarity on how to ease families' real expenses
The state lacks a clear plan to ease the real cost burden on Estonian families. The government stresses services and security, while the opposition calls for direct financial relief.
According to the Ministry of Social Affairs, the average monthly cost of raising one child in Estonia is currently €564.62.
"That is a significant amount of money. We also have to consider that the value of money constantly changes due to inflation," said opposition Isamaa party chair Urmas Reinsalu.
"We discussed it at home, too. We have three children and tried to apply that number to real life. I hope the researchers' methodology is sound," said Prime Minister Kristen Michal (Reform).
Michal said Estonia's demographic issues are influenced by overall societal confidence and regional security. The state, he added, must invest in better services.
"In terms of benefits, Estonia is still among the top countries in Europe. But when it comes to services, we definitely need to make progress and that's what I expect from the social sector. What truly matters is having access to quality services: balancing family and work life, childcare, education, recreational opportunities, hobby education and so on," Michal said.
The public debate around services remains vague and it is often unclear which services are actually being proposed, a demographer noted. It is a misconception that child benefits have no impact on birth rates.
"Support must be proportional to the actual costs of raising a child. And that proportion needs to be stable over time. We can't have a nominal amount that loses real value over years or decades. It must be tied to the rising cost of living," said Mark Gortfelder, a researcher at Tallinn University's Estonian Institute for Population Studies.
"One option is to index family benefits and there are different ways to do that. But indexing would reduce flexibility in political decision-making. It might be more sensible to redirect that same money into a specific service or another form of support," said Hanna Vseviov, deputy secretary general for social affairs at the Ministry of Social Affairs.
Politicians are not explicitly proposing indexing family benefits.
"All steps that would undermine families' sense of security must be frozen. That has been Isamaa's consistent position," said Reinsalu.
"The economy is returning to growth, in part due to our own decisions. People are left with more money in their pockets, taxes are lower than last year and we must take various steps, like reducing bureaucracy and simplifying planning, to make housing more accessible," said Michal.
The Ministry of Social Affairs has proposed several adjustments to the parental benefit scheme. Impact assessments are expected to be completed by early summer.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski, Johanna Alvin
