The President has instructed the government to comprehensively review issues of support for large families.

The Government has been tasked with comprehensively reviewing issues of support for large families.

The Government has been tasked with comprehensively reviewing issues of support for large families. This was stated by the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, in response to questions from workers during a visit to "Gomselmash", as reported by a BELTA correspondent.

The President was asked about his stance on the initiative to reduce the working day for one of the parents in a large family to 7 hours as an alternative to the current provision of an additional paid day off per week for this category.

The Head of State drew attention to the significant importance of demographic issues for the development of any country. "The biggest problem for us today is not "Gomselmash" and not even the COVID pandemic; we will overcome this, don't worry, we will cure everyone," the President said. "The biggest problem is the population. If every woman does not give birth to two or three children, it will be like in Europe, Russia, Ukraine, which lost almost 200,000 people in a year, where there is a population decline. There will be no one to live in half a century."

Understanding this, Belarus has taken measures to support childbirth and families raising children. Particularly tangible measures are in place for large families. In particular, the "Family Capital" program is in operation. The President emphasized that it has proven itself well, which is why its validity was extended after the first four years, and now it is planned to make it permanent.

"I think this will remain forever. Give birth, for God's sake. We will find this money - $10,000 for each child after the birth of two children. Because this is the main thing. If there are no children, there will be no workers, no education will be needed then, no competencies," noted Alexander Lukashenko.

The President stressed that issues of support for large families will be comprehensively reviewed at the government and parliamentary level in order to decide how to change this system in the future. One of the important issues is the targeting of such assistance and its intended use.

The Head of State considers it important to also discuss the possibility of reducing parental leave, which in Belarus currently lasts until children reach the age of three and is one of the longest in the world.