Seda Sevencan
27 May 2025•Update: 09 June 2025
ISTANBUL
Serbia is seeing early signs of a demographic recovery after years of population decline thanks to targeted family support policies that have modestly increased the country’s fertility rate, a senior government official said.
Tatjana Macura, Serbia’s minister without portfolio in charge of gender equality, prevention of violence against women and the economic and political empowerment of women, shared her country’s experience with Anadolu during the International Family Forum held in Istanbul from May 22-23.
“Serbia has managed to achieve something that very few countries in Europe and the world have succeeded in doing — increasing the fertility rate at a time when we identified it as our biggest problem,” said Macura.
In 2007, Serbia’s fertility rate stood at just 1.38 children per woman — well below the replacement rate of 2.1, Macura noted.
“At that point, we realized there was a problem that we needed to address urgently,” she said.
But since 2017-2018, Belgrade has rolled out an ambitious set of population policies mostly centered on financial aid to families, and these measures have nudged the fertility rate upward to 1.62, according to the minister.
“When I say this, it’s not with excessive excitement, because we know this is only a small increase and that we need to do much more,” she said. “But achieving even this result in the face of the demographic challenges we are witnessing globally today is considered a success.”
Current incentives include direct financial support for parents — between €4,500 and €5,000 ($5,131 and $5,702) for the first child and up to €27,000 for the fourth — as well as state aid of up to €20,000 for new mothers, Macura said.
Rethinking gender roles at home
Macura stressed that financial aid alone is not enough to reverse demographic decline. Changing gender dynamics within households is just as critical.
“Another issue that needs addressing is how responsibilities are shared within the family — specifically, how women who want to become mothers can balance their work and family obligations,” she said.
“We see a very important role for men in this, and it’s something we need to talk about.”
She cited research by the Ministry for Family Care and Demography showing that young people in Serbia are increasingly supportive of shared parenting and domestic roles.
“This does not change our culture or traditional values but rather meets the needs of the modern world in which we live, where women want to participate in the labor market and — as research in Serbia shows — also want to be mothers,” she said.
Deepening ties with Türkiye
Macura praised the International Family Forum for creating space to share experiences and best practices.
She also pointed to a growing partnership between Türkiye and Serbia.
“I am pleased to note that our two countries have developed a good relationship in recent years, primarily due to the strong, almost friendly relationship between presidents (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan and (Aleksandar) Vucic, which is further supported by the close — as they themselves describe — ‘sisterly’ bond between the first ladies of both countries.”
Macura also expressed concern over the growing influence of digital technology on family life.
“The family, in today’s modern society, is exposed to many pressures and challenges — especially from the internet and social media,” she said.
