In a trend that has caused surprise, more children have been born recently in Poland’s largest cities per woman of reproductive age than in the country as a whole, state news agency PAP reported.
But the trend is a temporary one, according to sociologist Prof. Piotr Szukalski from the University of Łódź in central Poland.
Szukalski was cited by PAP as saying that fertility rates outside large cities were likely to increase in the future.
After coming to power in late 2015, Poland’s socially conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government introduced new handouts for families with two or more children. The move aimed to ease the burdens of child rearing and encourage families to have more children.
Poorer families were eligible for the allowance even if they had just one child.
Under new rules approved by the Polish president in May, the flagship “Family 500+” benefits programme was expanded to include all single-child families regardless of income.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said the initiative is "a revolutionary socio-demographic project.”
(pk/gs)