The claim has been made frequently, with reason. The people of Malta and Gozo are "producing" less children than what is required to replenish the population. Instead the prospects are that there will occur a steep decline in the Maltese "indigenous" population over the coming decades. So a policy needs to be implemented to aim at not letting this happen. By themselves, financial incentives will not do the trick.
It is a correct argument. Still at the same time... and the point is not made sufficiently clear... without incentives, the change will surely not happen. Their introduction was justified.
Beyond this however we need to understand better how for the desired aim to be reached, a cultural change in the society at large will need to be effected... in the way by which people evaluate their own future, as individuals... that is, by way of how one wants to live, in the company of other people: family, inclusive of children - places where to live... in terms of neighbours and more - the people with whom one shares tastes and lifestyles - and persons one gets to know via the internet...
Apart from introducing measures that do facilitate the material life of "large" families, little is known as yet about how to win the cultural campaign that successfully encourages more and more couples to decide to go along with their instinctual feelings to nurture children and with the commitment required when opting for more children in their family.
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POEMS
A friend of mine said: It's being claimed by you and others that because of social media and the importance they have assumed in the everyday life of people, reading longish texts has become too much of a burden for modern man. People have gotten used to reading short scripts and avoid longer texts either because they find them incomprehensible, or because they require concentrated attention for longer than people can sustain. But this should then boost the writing and reading of poetry on social media and the internet, at least for shorter poems like the Japanese haiku, some lyric forms and even sonnets... Is this happening?
I couldn't reply to his question. So I promised him to check with chatgpt to get guidance on the issue. If I got a suitably short reply from the chatbox, I'd read it and send him a copy...
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PHILANTROPY
Although the social state has continued to be affirmed... at least in Europe... projects to mobilise citizens and get their support for this and that social objective seem to have increased. Various aims and various sectors are involved... from physical and mental health... to aid for the homeless... to the victims of civil wars in the "South"...
In many cases, the philantropic efforts are quickly converted to professional organizations - foundations, private trusts, cooperatives. They are run like any normal business, with a trained, well paid staff. It all is considered as a natural process. Some governments consider such entities as helpful since they provide backing (as an extension of and indeed an add-on to) the social services run by the state. The problem is that there does not seem to exist a clear frontier between where the state steps in and where the private, non-commercial input starts.