Raising children costing more and more every year
As every year, Adam Smith’s Center prepared a report on the costs of raising children on the occasion of Children's Day. This year's study shows that bringing up a child to the age of 18 costs PLN 211,000-253,000 while bringing up two children is already the cost of about PLN 422,000. Almost 80 percent of the cost of raising a child consists of food, housing, transport, communications, and education. Parents from cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants spend the most money.
"It is 5 percent more than last year, but already 20 percent more than in 2014, which is a lot," Anna Gołębicka, an expert at Adam Smith’s Center, said.
"This is due to the rising costs of living in Poland – it is estimated that between 2015 and 2020 they increased by as much as 61 percent. Interestingly, the pandemic did not affect the total value of these expenses, but their proportions. The report shows that families 500+ beneficiaries have not suffered as much from the pandemic's financial impact as non-beneficiary families The bar for bringing up children is now very high compared to 30 years ago. The expectations of parents are high and the feeling of economic stability is low. This is one of the reasons why there are fewer newborns in Poland every year. The declining fertility rate is the most pessimistic element of the report," Gołębicka explained.
