Birth rate up since baby bonus enacted

Since government enacted the baby bonus, the birth rate has increased.

Internal affairs minister Mark Brown, speaking to a room full of Pacific journalists on Saturday, said the average birth rate has jumped from about 300 to about 390 in two years.

”We don’t know if it’s because of the incentive of the baby bonus but one thing that a lot of developed countries are finding is a challenge of low birth rates – (which are) not (high) enough to replace an aging population,“ he said.

Countries with low birthrates like China, he said, are ”coming to an understanding“ that their working-age populations will be comparatively small in 20 or 30 years’ time.

”For us here in the Cooks it’s important we understand that birth rates play a critical role long-term in sustaining and having a good sustainable population here,“ he said.

Brown said that in the longer-term, the birth rate has decreased with each generation, and that an increase in the number of babies being born in the Cook Islands is in fact a good thing.

”The more people here, the better,“ he said. ”The fertility of the country leads in a straight correlation to its prosperity.

”Every mouth that lands here on the island, whether it’s born or produced here or whether comes here as a migrant, adds to the economic value of the country.“

”family planting policy“.