Greece to pay €2,000 for each newborn

By Magda Panoutsopoulou

Athens (AA) - Greece will offer a benefit of €2,000 ($2,200) to parents of newborns birthed from Jan. 1.

The law which passed last month, is an effort to boost birthrates which have seen a 10% decline in the past four years.

It will help parents earning less than €40,000 ($43,000) annually.

The benefit will be tax free and will be disbursed in two installments of a €1,000 ($1,000). The total expenditure is expected to cost Greece €123 million ($135 million) in 2020.

Greece is projected to see its population fall by one-third between 2016 and 2080, according to a recent Eurostat report that said by 2050, 36% of the population will be older than 65.