Close to 50 billion NOK has been paid in financial support to Norwegian children since the program began on 1 August 1998.
Since and including 2016, it’s been calculated that just under 47.5 billion kroner has been paid out, this also compares to the government’s own calculations. The sums are averaged up to year 2016 and in Norwegian kroner.
Last year is not part of the overview because final account figures are not yet available, but in 2016 alone NOK 1.5 billion was paid in ‘cash’ support to Norwegian families. If the scope of the program was at a similar level in 2017, the program has cost the state close to 50 billion since inception.
“It is important to emphasize that the cash support program has contributed to the need for child daycare facilities to cost less than they would other wise,” says Linda Hofstad Helleland (H), Minister for Children and Equality, in her reply to a written question on the matter from the Labor Party’s Kristian Torve.
The Ministry of Education announced in connection with the state budget for 2018 that a liquidation of cash support would now increase the demand for child daycare facilities by nearly 4,400 NOK.
“If the program was not in place, parents would have to pay more than 980 million NOK a year,” says Helleland.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
