Doctor Filip Furman spoke on the latest “Cost of marriage and family break ups in Poland” report, which analyzed the consequences of the high cost of families falling apart.
Furman pointed out that the most important conclusion to be drawn from the report in terms what it indicates about the state’s system is that family as an institution has massive intrinsic and economic value. For politicians responsible for family, financial and development policies, such information is incredibly valuable, just as it is for investors and other economic subjects planning long-term development.
“Therefore, family should stand in the center of interest when outlining welfare policies and state infrastructure – from physical infrastructure such as streets and public use buildings to legal infrastructure associated with conducting economic activity,” he said.
The second most important conclusion Furman noted was the incredibly high cost of family and marriage break-ups in Poland. This is a negative phenomenon in terms of economic, social and demographic development.
In 2019, the cost of a family falling apart in Poland was EUR 1.24 billion, a significant sum in light of the Polish state’s budget spending. Moreover, this sum is a minimal estimate, and the real cost is most likely much higher.
Doctor Filip Furman, Ordo Iuris:
Family should stand in the center of interest when outlining welfare policies and state infrastructure.
This cost is due to numerous spending from the state budget directly towards servicing benefits associated with a family break-up. These include several categories of spending, the highest of which are the cost of replacement families (EUR 328 million), spending on care and education facilities (EUR 313 million), and benefits paid out from the Alimony Fund (EUR 248 million).
Furman emphasized that although the radical Left presents this narrative in a false way, this data still does not include the cost of divorces, which are part of a broader social phenomenon and also are direct costs.
There are several more indirect costs due to the family fulfilling several roles in different areas. Families are important managing entities which create actual goods and services, and they are filled with potential to create human and social capital.
The expert warned that the break-up of a family is also a strike against the civilizational foundation of the existence of a state – demographic development. This is because the population of a society mainly decides the economic abilities of a state.
“Families are naturally the best environment to birth and raise children and ensures social and economic stability. They also support higher birth-rates. The break-up of a family therefore direct leads to a decrease in birth rates,” he explained.
Furman also underlined that in the classic idea of a state, in which family and not an individual is the basic social cell, the family is the source of stability and security (in economic terms as well).
He stated that in the situation in which there is a lack of this natural environment and support, a unit is left to its own devices and eventually needs the state’s help more often. Therefore, one should work not on decreasing this help, but focus on counteracting situations in which lead to the necessity to offer this state assistance in the first place.
