Please make babies, Norwegian premier urges citizens

CHILDREN  WELFARE

The Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Høyre has asked Norwegians to make more babies.

"I don't think I need to explain how this is done. Nor should I give any orders," said the Prime Minister in her New Year's speech.

The premier was quoted by the local media Norway Today as saying that producing less children was interfering with the country's welfare model.

Observers noted that behind the humorous statements lay a greater seriousness. There are too few children in Norway for the Norwegian welfare model to be maintained at today's level. Each of us must have just over two children on average if we are to maintain the population. Today, only 1.6 children per Norwegian are born.

"Our society goes around because adults take care of the children. And employers provide for the elderly. Over the next decades, we are having problems with this model. We Norwegians are getting fewer children" Solberg said.

She also pointed out that for many reasons, many people wait a long time for children, which means that more people have problems getting pregnant and need the help of the health service to get them. The Prime Minister, therefore, believes there is reason to ask whether it is "too difficult to get children early".

"We have to make good arrangements to have children during their studies and early in their career," she concluded.

Her New Year speech largely revolves around the children, the family and how the Prime Minister wants the Norwegian society to be the best at giving children and young people security and opportunities.

The family is most important
"The family is the most important and closest community we have," she said, and followed up by saying that "when we bring children to the world, it is important what kind of society we leave to them".

The answer is a society that is in just as good a condition as when it was generated.

"We call it a sustainable welfare society. Economically sustainable because more people come to work and more work longer before they retire. Socially sustainable by maintaining trust and small differences between people. That we include more and avoid groups being left on the outside. And environmentally sustainable by taking care of the climate and the environment," said the Prime Minister.