Payment of parental benefits declines in Norway. According to Nav, the main reason is that fewer children are born in Norway.
Fresh figures from Nav show that 47,800 fathers and 74,600 mothers received parental benefits for the first nine months of 2017. This is a decline of 2..2 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively, compared with the same period last year.
The decline is seen in the context of the birth rates in Norway falling. According to Nav, the number of births has fallen by 5 percent in the first half og 2017, compared with the corresponding period in 2016.
During the first nine months of the year, a total of 47 percent of the fathers received parental benefits for ten weeks or more. Most of them were in Akershus, where 56 percent of the fathers had parental leave for at least 10 weeks. Oslo is in second place with 54 percent.
At the bottom of the list is the west of Agder. Here 30 percent of the fathers received parental benefits for ten weeks or more in the first nine months of the year.
A majority of parents choose 100 percent coverage / salary, rather than 80 percent salary and a longer benefit period. The total proportion of women who choose full pay has increased from around 30 percent in 2008 to almost 70 percent in 2017.
In the first three quarters of the year, men and women had a withdrawal of parental benefits of 40 days and 99 days, respectively, a figure that is on par with last year.
Approximately 14,200 people took part in partial withdrawal of parental benefits in combination with partial work. This is a decrease of 6 percent compared with last year. Three out of four who took advantage of the scheme were men, and most of them found in the Agder counties and Oppland.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
