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Europe’s Baby Bust

In Sweden, the parents of every newborn (or newly adopted child) are legally entitled to 480 days of leave. Ninety of those days are paid at a standard rate, and the remaining 390 days are based on the parents’ ordinary income. There’s also a 1,250 krona (about $121) monthly government subsidy per child; the amount increases from the second child.

Unless European countries manage to increase their young populations, the continent faces a future in which there are not enough people to do the work that needs to be done, even if artificial intelligence succeeds in taking over some duties. It will also be a continent where there are not enough people to look after the older population (imagine senior citizens attended to by robots) and not enough people to fund the government through their taxes. And it will be a continent that faces rapidly increasing national security threats, yet its countries have nowhere near enough people to serve in their armed forces.

 

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