Tomasz Gzell / PAP

Polish families have received monthly benefits totaling PLN 144 billion (EUR 31.1 billion) since the government’s Family 500 Plus children’s aid program began, said the Family Minister PAP.

The government’s Family 500 Plus program, launched in April 2016, offers PLN 500 (EUR 108) per month per child under 18 years of age in a family. Around 6.6 million children benefit from the program.

Marlena Malag told PAP that thanks to the program, “having a new child in a family is no longer the main reason the family becomes poor”.

Malag also said that the program “is the largest social program on an unprecedented scale that has changed the lives of many Polish families and, in many cases, restored their dignity”.

She said the program was “an investment in the future” and had “a very serious impact on economic growth … especially during the epidemic”.

Malag also pointed out that the poverty indicator fell from 6.5 percent in 2015 to 4.2 percent in 2019.

The minister calculated that from birth to the age of 18 a family can receive up to PLN 108,000 (EUR 23,300) per child.

However, Malag admitted that 500 Plus had failed to meet one of its main goals, which was to increase the overall fertility rate. But she said the rate would have been even lower without her.

She argued that the decision on whether or not to have a child was influenced by a number of factors, saying that current birth rates in Poland were among the highest in the past two decades.

Malag also said the government was not planning any “negative changes” to the program despite the coronavirus crisis, which was putting a strain on the budget.