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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 8, No. 4
Publication Date: April 25, 2021
DOI:10.14738/assrj.84.10068.
Stamoulis, D. S., & Lambrou, D. N. (2021). Demographic Policies for Large Families in Greece: An Opinion Survey and Implications
for the Social Administration. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(4). 709-722.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Demographic Policies for Large Families in Greece: An Opinion
Survey and Implications for the Social Administration
Dimitrios S. Stamoulis
Social Administration Research Lab, University of West Attica, Greece
Dimitrios N. Lambrou
Indepedent Researcher, Athens, Greece
ABSTRACT
Opinion surveys as a tool for policy formation and effectiveness testing in the area
of demographic / family policies is rather neglected, although it may reveal
significant perceived effectiveness and preference rankings by the recipients of
these policies, giving a strong indication of what works best for families who are
thinking of or have already been accredited the status of a large family. In an era of
demographic decline and fiscal constraints, demographic / family policies need to
be focused on what parents consider as important in order to affect their decisions.
Given that the demographic decline has a negative cascading effect on several
aspects of economy, society and personal life, selecting the policies that work best
according to parents’ views who are the decision makers in these policy field,
should be an imperative for governments nowadays.
Keywords: Demographic policies; large families; opinion survey; social policies; family
policies.
INTRODUCTION
Following a decade of sharply declining demographic indicators in Greece, the discussion for a
reset in demographic policies is a rather commonly agreed public issue; however, there are
deviating opinions as to what needs to be re-established and which new measures should be
taken. Greece remains unfortunately in the 37th place out of 38 in the OECD list of countries
categorized in terms of public expenditure on family benefits in percent of GDP (latest available
data 2015).
Policy formation is usually based on statistics and inference mechanisms in comparison with
other countries that might have similar experiences [6]. However, this research aims at
shedding some light on the direction of the demographic policies to be followed from a bottom- up approach. We thought that it is better to elicit this knowledge from the decision makers
themselves, since there is no single theoretical model that may either explain demographic
behavior or evaluate the effectiveness of demographic policies, although several attempts for
an integrated approach have been proposed by demographers. “As fertility behavior takes place
in a multi-level setting of biological, psychological, social, economic, cultural and political
conditions, theories to explain fertility behavior need to be drawn from several academic
disciplines and to address different levels of analysis. [...] One should continue a discussion
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 8, Issue 4, April-2021
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
promoting an integrated system of concepts and an exchange between the disciplines on key
research questions.” [8]
Parents of large families who have decided to acquire four or more children as well as those
who would like to form a large family are the most qualified people to give their insight on that
they perceive as important in demographic policies. Instead of only using predictions or
statistical analyses, the voice of parents is of at least equal importance in determining which
policies have been effective in the past and what else should be included in the agenda for a
new demographic reform. To this end, an opinion survey has been designed to reveal what
parents of large families rank higher as demographic policies among all the main measures that
had been taken in the past in Greece. Some of these may seem strange to other countries and
other social settings, but “family policies can only be successful if they are designed to take into
account the characteristics of the society in which they are implemented” [4]. That’s why an
opinion survey focusing nationally at a specific audience that contributes most to the
demographics of the country, is important as a methodological tool in redesigning the
demographic policies.
Why large families? Given that more than 2 children are needed in a family to replace their
parents, a large family directly supports the stabilization of the population. In some countries a
large family is defined as having three or more children, in some other, such as Greece, four or
more children. The logic behind defining the threshold at four children is that the 3rd child
substitutes the missing child of an one-child family, while the 4th child substitutes the missing
children of a childless couple. Large families are more sensitive to demographic policies,
because, given the behavioural prerequisites, the final number of acquired children depends on
the effectiveness of the demographic policies, since “the burden of high fertility is more likely
to be felt directly by parents and, as a result, by their children”. [2]
Children in large families are more likely to be in poverty than children in small families.
However, an analysis [13] found out that in those countries which give higher per-child family
allowances to larger families, the probability of children being in poverty does not increase with
family size once parents' employment status is taken into account. However, policies to
eradicate poverty should not be seen as synonymous to demographic policies; the former focus
on a decent life for those in need, while the latter try to guarantee that the expected qualify of
life does not decrease when the size of the family increases, given that more children are needed
in western societies to avoid the negative consequences of their rapid aging.
THE BACKGROUND OF THE SURVEY
The birth rates have been declining in Greece since the 70’s. Lowering the threshold from five
to four children in the definition of a large family in 1979 offered no help in slowing the
declining curve, because sufficient demographic policies were absent [5]. Following a
Parliamentary committee report on the demographic problem in 1993, the then government
decided to distribute a cash benefit of around 300 euros per child for large families and an
honorary ‘pension’ of 100 euros to mothers of large families with four or more children, when
all of the children got adults. These cash benefits in conjunction with some other non-financial
measures, such as job appointments in the Public sector and other big organizations for large
families that accounted for the 20% of the total job vacancies as well as the right for the children
of large families to study in the university closest to their house if they have been successfully
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Stamoulis, D. S., & Lambrou, D. N. (2021). Demographic Policies for Large Families in Greece: An Opinion Survey and Implications for the Social
Administration. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(4). 709-722.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.84.10068
admitted to a university, gave a strong push to the number of people how decided to create a
large family. The decisive boost was a significant measure for attacking large families’
unemployment, concentrating on those large families’ parents holding an education related
degree. Surprisingly or not, many of the parents of large families in Greece hold a university
degree which allows them to be appointed as teachers in the primary or secondary education.
Therefore, appointing large families’ parents in the education sector in absolute priority over
all the rest of the candidates, increased the number of large families in Greece and creating a
large family friendly recruitment environment, in favour of large families. The culmination of
the combined effects of several demographic policies in the decade of 2000 is eloquently shown
in the below graph, where the births rate turned upside, with a positive sign appearing after
more than three decades and reaching the highest point in 2008 with birth rate 1,416% .
Figure-1: Demographic data for Greece by UN projections (www.macrotrends.net)
Unfortunately, the advent of the global financial recession in 2009 acted as a catalyst for an
acute fiscal crisis in Greece, resulted in an unprecedented demolition of the demographic
policies that were focusing on large families so far [7]. Lack of funds and redistribution of social
benefits to the ever increasing number of poor people in the previous decade (2009-2019), as
well as the marginalization of the demographic problem in the public issues agenda caused the
start of a steep demographic decline that takes the form of a collapse, with estimations of as
small a population for Greece, as 9 million in 2050 and a terrifying projection for the rest of the
century.