Thousands of parents are set to benefit from two bills on childbirth allowance and parental leave set to head to plenum on Thursday, Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou said on Tuesday.

Attending the House labour committee, he said the bills mark an important step on implementing a policy framework “for the country’s demographic recovery.”

The bill on the childbirth allowance will benefit some 8,000 families per year, with an increase in the allowance granted for every child. The sum will go from €630 to €1,000 for the first child, €1,500 for the second child, €2,000 for the third child and €2,500 for the fourth and each subsequent child, with retroactive effect from October 1 this year.

The parental leave bill increases the beneficiaries from the existing 80,000 to 148,000 by increasing the child’s age limit from eight to 15 years, effective immediately once the bills are voted into law.

According to Panayiotou, the duration of parental leave will be extended from 8 weeks to 10; and 12 and 14 weeks for the second, third, fourth and each subsequent child respectively, with effect from March 2025.

He also said that an amendment, tabled by Edek MP Andreas Apostolou, to extend the age limit for children with disabilities from 18 to 21 years for the purposes of parental leave, was accepted.

The bills are linked to a €50 million tranche of measures aimed at tackling the “national challenge” Cyprus is facing with its ‘alarming demographic problem’, where fertility rates have dropped and women are giving birth older.

In a televised message last month, President Nikos Christodoulides said the government has a broader action plan amounting to €100m aimed at helping young couples enter the job market, support parents and encourage older individuals to stay in work.