With a loaf of bread under the arm, as the old saying goes, and a bonus, if they decide, the children of the workers of a company in Italy.

In Salerno, a rehabilitation center with a payroll of about 200 employees decided to encourage those who have a baby with a prize of 1,000 euros, Infobae reported.

The Italian media, according to Infobae, have published that this center is Villa dei Fiori, in Nocera Inferiore. The bonus is for every new child they bring into the world, Clarín added.

The employees received the news by letter. The company is trying to help increase the birth rate in that country.

According to preliminary data, birth rates fell in high-income countries during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

Demography and Birth in Italy

According to Clarín, the first two employees to receive the award are two physiotherapists.

“They were recognized with the check associated with the bonus for the birth of two children, Rosa and Gennaro.”

In July 2020, it was published in El Universo that Italy’s population was expected to decline to more than half, according to a study from 61 million in 2017 to 28 million by the end of the century.

6 countries where the population will decrease drastically and one where it will grow

Last year, Infobae reported, 392,598 children were born in Italy, 7,651 fewer children than in 2021, so the number of births fell by 1.91%.

Population growth is worrying, and Infobae recalled that in 2022, the Mediterranean island of Sardinia agreed to pay 15,000 euros to every person who moved there.

However, there have been initiatives since 2017. Salerno Today said a company in Vicenza that year began “giving an extra monthly salary to women who became pregnant, then a few others, again in Veneto, and one in Apulia.” Now for the first time in Campania”.

According to the center’s general director, Domenico Vuolo, Italy “ranks sixth lowest in the world by birth rate, out of 208 countries.”

Vuolo expects that more companies will be interested in this need, stating: “With this initiative, we want to support working mothers and employees who decide to raise their families: a decision that deliberately goes against the trend, given that today more and more , “We are talking about layoffs of working mothers,” Domenico Vuolo’s manager announced.

On social networks, some criticize the amount of the bonus. They point out that buying milk and diapers will soon run out.

But at the root of this delicate subject, the statistics of Italian entities make others think similarly: “In just eight years there are 1.5 million fewer Italians. In the next 40 years, demographic shrinkage will reach 11 million inhabitants.”