Guests urge stable family support to encourage births in Estonia

People appearing on Estonian public broadcaster ERR’s programme Impulss called for more generous and predictable family support, as the country faces a record-low birth rate.

Director Madis Ligema, who recently became a father for the third time, said money alone would not necessarily persuade people to have children, but larger benefits could increase births. He argued that support should focus especially on a family’s first child. “The benefit for the first child should be massive, so people have that first child. Once the first is there, the second and third may follow, and perhaps even a fourth,” Ligema said.

Raul Eamets, an economist and council member of Pere Sihtkapital, stressed the importance of supporting families with a third child. Having a third child can mean needing an extra room or a larger car, he said, adding that half of Estonia’s children live in families with three or more children.

Eamets also proposed extending parental benefits for parents who stay at home full time to raise children. He praised a proposal by Heido Vitsur and Indrek Neivelt under which a parent choosing full-time childcare would receive Estonia’s median wage. Their proposal set the amount at 500 euros per child, or 1,500 euros for three children, he said.

European Parliament member Jana Toom said support for families with children should be a national priority, with a fixed share of the state budget allocated to it. Child benefits are “shamefully small,” she said, and many children live in relative or absolute poverty. Toom, a mother of five, said the country should develop a child-focused policy and dedicate a set percentage of GDP to it, as it does for defence.

Elin Järvsaar, editor-in-chief of the magazine Pere ja Kodu, said stable benefits and rules were more important to parents than the size of payments. Frequent changes to family benefits create uncertainty and can deter young people from becoming parents, she said.

Eamets agreed that demographic policy needs a long-term agreement, similar to defence policy. Decisions should extend beyond election cycles, he said, arguing that changes in policy from one coalition to the next make it difficult for people to take on the risks of having children.

Estonia recorded 9,240 births in 2025, the lowest figure on record. Eamets said births could fall below 9,000 this year.