The government plans to increase the one-off cash support for a newborn child from €618 to €803 from 1 January 2027. The increase was announced by the Minister of Demography and Migration, Ivan Šipić, following a government meeting, and would cover more than 34,000 beneficiaries.
Almost €28 million has been secured annually to implement the measure. According to the draft amendments to the Act on Maternity and Parental Benefits, the government would determine the level of support for the following year in December of this year, so that the new amount can be applied from 1 January 2027.
The planned increase represents a rise in the one-off support from the current €618 to €803, or from 140 to 182 per cent of the budgetary base. The proposal enables the government to set the support level for each subsequent year, creating a model that allows for further growth without the need to amend the law for every future increase, Šipić said.
Instead of a legislatively fixed amount of 140 per cent of the budgetary base, the support level would be determined by a government decision as a percentage of the budgetary base. The government would adopt a decision for the following year in December of the current year. At the same time, legal protection is maintained so that support cannot be lower than 140 per cent of the budgetary base nor lower than the support amount achieved in the previous year.
The proposal guarantees families that the amount cannot fall below the legislatively established minimum nor below the support from the previous year. For determining the level of support, the relevant date would be the child's date of birth, or the date the adoption decision becomes final, rather than the date of submitting the application, as has been the case so far.
Following consultations with the public and coordination with other competent bodies, the draft law will be submitted to the Croatian Parliament. It is proposed to be adopted via an urgent procedure to ensure the legal framework for the government's decision is established in time.
Šipić emphasised that demography has no alternative for the Croatian government, calling it a capital issue and stating that the government would find the funds for it. He highlighted that the aim is to further strengthen the financial security of families during the period from the birth of a child, when significant initial costs for equipment and other necessities arise.
