Thomas Malthus, who was born 250 years ago, wrote extensively on the harmful effects of population growth on incomes. He influenced many economists in their risk assessment of high fertility and growing populations that threatened the world’s food supply, standard of living, and environment. The time when large families were perceived as a threat to the well-being of society are now long behind us. Today we face more challenging, slow burning family issues.

According to Eurostat statistics, Malta is among 80 countries that have fewer births than required to replace the number of individuals who die each year. At 1.42 Malta’s fertility rate is even below the EU average of 1.58. The implications of these worrying statistics may not make exciting headline news, but they are certainly very important for the well-being of our society and the economy.

In western countries, including Malta, retirement incomes and medical care of the elderly are largely financed by taxes on younger employees. Low birth rates will lead to fewer workers in the medium term contributing to finance social security payments. What is even more worrying for Malta is that ‘both the participation rate in the work force and the birth rates are low’.

The government’s strategy to encourage women to have more children and to make it easier for them to join the workforce is important. Unfortunately, despite financial and fiscal incentives Malta’s birth rate continues to be low and is even falling. More needs to be done to make it easier for working mothers to raise their children and indirectly encourage them to have more children.

Better after school childcare is necessary even if this will add a fiscal burden on the state. It is really an investment in the future well-being of our society. While more child adoptions could be another solution, it is still unlikely that it will bridge sufficiently well the gap that will help Malta achieve the replacement rate of 2.1 children per family unit.

Another aspect of the family challenges being faced by our society is the lack of fostering services for children and adolescents who come from a difficult family environment. The Commissioner for Children, Pauline Miceli, warned that “services for children needing out-of-home care were in place but children were not getting the best deal from them”. Troubled children can often turn out to be dysfunctional adults who find it difficult to find their place in society.

The integration of immigrants in our society will always be a hot emotive issue not only for Malta but for most other EU countries that are facing deteriorating demographics. But it may be one of the most viable solutions to low fertility rates. Initially it will demand huge investment in training, healthcare and other social services that any modern society takes for granted. But it will give returns in the long term.

The threats of low fertility must not be underestimated. Low fertility reduces the rate of scientific and other innovations that mainly come from younger individuals. Younger people are more adaptable and are the lifeblood of new industries like high tech start-ups that are replacing older declining industries.

It is time for our policymakers to define a comprehensive strategy that encourages more women to have children, find work when they decide to do so, support families that want to adopt or foster children, and integrate as many immigrants in our society as is necessary and sustainable.

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