Panel II Demography - A Challenge. Political Responses

Thank you for inviting me to the congress, and for giving me the opportunity to speak to you.

The Norwegian population does not reproduce itself, yet, due to immigration our population has grown. Like most other European countries, Norway also has a high percentage of senior citizens. From 1970, and up to the present, the number of people over the age of 80 has doubled, and a special fund, the "Folketrygdfondet"-, has been set up to meet the increasing demand for old age pensions in the future.

In the early eighties Norway had a low birth rate, which caused some concern. Since the middle of the eighties the birth rate has increased, and in European terms has remained high and stable since the middle of the nineties. In 2000 the fertility rate in Norway was 1,85. 1Til orientering: Bare Island, Irland og Frankrike ligger høyere. Frankrike har nå den høyeste fødselsraten i Europa på 1,9. However, the figure for 2001 has dropped to 1,78, and it remains to see if this represents a new trend.

In the last ten years Norway has invested much in improving conditions for families with small children. First, the parental leave period in connection with childbirth has gradually been lengthened. Parents who work prior to the birth of a baby now receive a paid leave-of-absence corresponding either to one year at 80 per cent pay or 42 weeks on full pay. The amount of this support money is estimated according to the income of the parent who has the parental leave.

Nine weeks are reserved for the mother, and four weeks are reserved for the father. As to the remainder of the allotted time, the parents themselves decide whether the mother or the father should stay at home with the baby, or whether they want to share the leave-of absence between them.

Second, the number of day-care centres has increased, but in the coming period we continue to face the challenge of meeting the demand for day-care places, and of lowering the costs to parents for placement of their small children in day-care centres.

In addition, each parent is entitled to 10 days` leave per year if a child is ill. Parents with children under the age of 10 are also entitled to have reduced work hours.

Norwegian women have a very high rate of participation in the labour force, and their participation has increased greatly since the seventies. Approximately 75-80 per cent of Norwegian woman work outside the home, and this is also the case for women with small children. Part time work among women is very common, and about half of working women have a part-time job.

I have been asked to mention about the fairly new reform in Norway called the cash benefit scheme. The cash benefit scheme was introduced in 1998, and it entitled every child between the ages of one and three to 400 Euros a month, if the child does not attend a day care centre. A child with a part time place in a day-care centre may receive partial cash benefit. The cash benefit is not subject to tax. You can of course also use the cash benefit to pay for other childcare arrangements, like for instance nannies.

The purpose of the cash benefit is:

- To give families more time to care for their own children
- To give families freedom of choice in deciding what form of child care they prefer for their children
- To provide more equality in state transfers to individual families for child care, independently of how the care is organised.

A majority of families with children between the ages of one and three receive the cash benefit. On the average, 75 per cent have received this support every year since the scheme was introduced. According to surveys, two-thirds of children with cash benefit are cared for at home by their parents. 15 per cent are cared for by nannies, and there has been a slight increase in nanny care for one-year old children. 13 per cent have different, combined child-care solutions.

It now seems that a higher percentage of children between one and three are cared for by their parents. Non-parental care was on the average reduced by 2,4 hours a week after the introduction of the cash benefit. This has mainly come about because mothers have reduced their work hours, and part-time work has increased.

Although the cash benefit has led to some changes in the care arrangements for children, the overall changes have not been very extensive. We have to bear in mind that before the reform was introduced neither the demand for day-care places was not met, nor were there many available places in day-care centres for children under the age of three. We still face a shortage of places, and meeting this demand is currently given high priority.

However, I do believe that the cash benefit reform has improved the freedom of choice for parents who want to care for their children at home.