Italy’s populist government plans to reward parents who have a third child by awarding them a piece of land, in a bid to reverse the country’s plummeting birth rate, media reported Wednesday.
The plan, cooked up by the far-right League and included in the draft budget for next year, would see the state concede parcels of agricultural land for 20 years to parents who have a third child between 2019 and 2021.
Italy has the lowest birthrate in Europe. Last year some 464,000 births were registered, a low record.
The Agriculture Minister Gian Marco Centinaio said, “They say that Italians have few children and that something is needed to turn the trend around.”
“That’s why the ministry wants to contribute, favouring rural areas in particular, where people still have children,” he told the media.
The land-for-children idea is supported by Italy’s ultra-Catholic families minister Lorenzo Fontana.
Foreigners interested in the offer would need to have been resident in Italy for at least 10 years.