According to the research, an average of 30,000 to 100,000 euros at the end of compulsory education: where families have to tighten their belts, single parents end up in the poverty trap.
Children are the true gifts of life, but they also cost a lot of (beautiful) time and money! This is – as reported – confirmed in great detail by the study “Monetary Family Benefits 2021” on 67 pages. According to this calculation, a child who lives with both parents earns an average of 494 euros per month.
On average, so-called transfer payments of 328 euros migrate from the state to the family fund. According to Adam Riese, this results in a difference of 166 euros. If these 166 euros are extrapolated now, at the age of 15 this comes out to around 30,000 euros.
Family pays 36,000 euros for child until graduation
If the child with a secondary school diploma goes to a higher school, almost 36,000 euros. The older the kids get, the more they cost!
For single parents this poses an extreme financial challenge (see graph below): With an expected average cost of 900 euros, there is only 321 euros in support. The difference is no less than 579 euros. By the end of compulsory education, more than EUR 100,000 must be paid. For a high school diploma of an average of 125,000 euros, much more! The costs per son or daughter rise exorbitantly there because the smaller the household, the fixed costs such as housing or energy are distributed among fewer people.
For single parents, however, the support from the state treasury is often lower. Where only mom or dad has to take care of the child alone, the poverty trap is lurking! A look into the past also proves what many parents in Austria have known for a long time: over time, the costs of raising children have basically increased.
Costs have increased by 25 percent since the 1960s
In the 1960s, for example, legal guardians had to calculate an average of 402 euros per child, regardless of the type of household in which they grew up, converted to euros and adjusted for inflation. It is currently about 483 euros.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
