Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population of Kazakhstan Svetlana Zhakupova took part in an international conference on the theme "Family is the basis of sustainable demographic development of Kazakhstan", where she spoke about social support for motherhood and childhood in Kazakhstan.

 The head of the MLSPP reported that, according to the Digital Family Card, more than 6 million families live in Kazakhstan, in which there are more than 19.8 million people. The number of large families raising 4 or more minor children exceeds 539 thousand. The number of women is 10.1 million, of which 4.6 million people are working, including 1.5 million in rural areas. By type of economic activity, most women are employed in education – 79%, healthcare – 78%, provision of accommodation and food services – 63%.

"In order to support families with children, namely, to stimulate the birth rate, to promote the upbringing of children in the family, to increase the prestige and authority of mothers with many children, to support large families, a multi-level system of social assistance and social insurance is provided.

Currently, 2.5 million Kazakhstani families with children are covered by benefits from the republican budget and social payments from the State Social Insurance Fund, which are assigned regardless of family income. Since January 2023, all state social benefits have been increased by 8.5%. 1.3 trillion tenge has been allocated this year, which is 39% more than the previous year," Svetlana Zhakupova said.

The Minister noted that at the basic level, the state guarantees a one-time allowance for the birth of a child to both working and non-working parents at the expense of the republican budget. For non-working parents, a monthly allowance for child care is provided until they reach the age of 1.5 years. The amounts of these types of benefits are set in a differentiated form, depending on the order of the child born.

"Such a determination of the size influenced the change in the structure of the recipients of benefits. Thus, the share of recipients of benefits for the birth of 4 or more children increased from 11.5% in 2010 to 29.7% in 2022, that is, almost every third child is born in a large family.

On January 1, 2023, on behalf of the Head of the State, the period of payment of child care benefits and social payment was extended from 1 year to 1.5 years. The sizes are differentiated depending on the order of the born child from 19,872 tenge to 30,705 tenge. As of October 1 this year, the recipients of the allowance are an average of 112.4 thousand people, 28.1 billion tenge has been paid," Svetlana Zhakupova added.

The head of the MLSPP reminded that since 2005, responsibility for social insurance has been distributed between the state, employers and employees.

"So, within the framework of social insurance, two types of social payments are provided for working parents: on the occasion of pregnancy and childbirth, as well as for caring after a child up to one and a half years old. This allows us to protect the interests of working women," the minister said.

The amount of social payment on maternity depends on the income from which social contributions were paid to the State Social Insurance Fund for the last year of a woman's work and the number of days for which a maternity leave was issued. As of October 1, 227 thousand women received the payment in the amount of 263.5 billion tenge, the average amount was more than 1.2 million tenge.

After the birth of a child, a working woman is assigned a monthly payment for the care of a child up to 1.5 years old. The amount of the payment is 40% of the average monthly income of a woman for the last 2 years before the birth of a child. For 9 months of this year, 493 thousand people received this social payment for a total amount of about 199 billion tenge, the average amount is 51,730 tenge.

"Since 2020, a new type of benefit for large families has been introduced. Its size is differentiated depending on the number of children in the family. Since the introduction of this benefit, the number of large families has increased by 2.14 times or by 287.5 thousand families. For 9 months, the benefit was paid on average to 539.6 thousand families, in the amount of 304 billion tenge. In total, funds in the amount of 416 billion tenge are provided for the payment of benefits to 543 thousand families for the current year," Svetlana Zhakupova said.

In addition, in order to increase the prestige and authority of mothers with many children in society, women awarded with "Altyn alka", "Kumis alka" pendants are paid a state benefits from the republican budget.

Since July 1, within the framework of the Social Code, the amount of the benefits for mothers awarded with the "Altyn Alka" pendant, the orders of "Maternal Glory" of I and II degrees, having the title of "Mother Heroine", that is, who gave birth and raised 7 or more children, has been increased to 7.4 MCI, for mothers awarded with the "Kumis alka" pendant" is 6.4 MCI.

Today, about 233 thousand mothers receive this benefit. 63 billion tenge is provided from the republican budget for this year.

At the end of her speech, the Minister spoke about the scoring model of the social risk map being developed as part of the Digital Family Card.

"The map of social risks is formed on the basis of data from information systems of state bodies and will allow to determine the social vulnerabilities of the region, to work in risk zones. In addition, it will analyze the situation with the further development of forecasts and programs for the socio-economic development of the region. When difficult life situations occur, social workers will receive alerts via a mobile application, which will allow them to take the necessary measures promptly," Svetlana Zhakupova summed up.

Source: Internet resource of the MLSPP of the RK https://www.gov.kz/memleket/entities/enbek/press/news/details/639680 ?lang=ru