In the wake of Qatar’s economic boom, the number of foreign workers has markedly increased in all fields. As a result, the country’s population has crossed the 1.8 million mark, up from roughly 700,000 in 2004. This increase has been accompanied by a growing birth rate and declining death rate due to improved healthcare.
However, the birth rate for Qataris is not as high as expected. Nowadays, young couples are not in favour of having more than one child. Most couples think two or four children are enough, due to the spiralling cost of living and education. Despite the growing number of nannies in this country, young couples say they are too busy to have more kids.
After getting married they immediately decide on birth control, saying they want to enjoy life with fewer responsibilities, and that they cannot bring up kids.
Of course, these excuses can be easily rejected. Children are a blessing, and birth control may be easily adopted without making the mother suffer in a way that gives leeway for the first baby, not to mention how nannies and other facilities, provided by the government, make it easier to have kids.
In-depth research by the population commission has shown that increasing the birth rate of citizens is necessary to achieve the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030, and a scheme should be drawn up to encourage couples to have more children.
The commission said in its annual report that it had proposed giving Qatari nationals grants to have more children. The plan also includes healthcare and social benefits.
This is not a new idea as Qatar has always favoured more births by giving families financial aid. The government used to give “sharha” or a reward for every male baby born to a Qatari family.
If the commission’s proposal is accepted, it will certainly encourage families to have more children, who will be Qatar’s men and women in the future. They will be the country’s human wealth, which is the mainstay of the development initiated by our leader. Increasing the birth rate will lead to balanced population growth.
