alt Hacker NewsI'm in the Netherlands, and my partner and I don't want kids for a multitude of reasons, but the biggest one for us and many other friends of ours is the obscene costs of having a child. Even the ones that really want kids simply cannot afford to have one, because the price of living is simply absurd.
I'm extremely fortunate to be working at a large tech company and I have good money, but even with my income having a kid would be financially ruinous for us. Daycare costs alone are ludicrous, somewhere in the region of 2000-3000 euros PER MONTH. Now, most people get some form of gov't support for things like these, but we definitely wouldn't due to my income, and while I'm well off, I'm not that well off to be able to afford an expense like that.
Not to mention all the other costs associated with having a child, both material like the ludicrous price of housing but also mental.
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> Daycare costs alone are ludicrous, somewhere in the region of 2000-3000 euros PER MONTH.
Very attractive numbers. I should look into the daycare business. I am guessing the people running daycare centers probably have several tax incentives too.
I’m really interested how you got these numbers. Using some of the daycare providers in our most expensive city (Amsterdam) with an obscene collective income (250k) with 5 full days of daycare (which not many parents even want) I get net 1300 per child.
For 3 days with more normal incomes it is closer to 700-800 euros
My friend works in large tech; think SV, a satellite office in Amsterdam. Both of them earn greatly. With two kids, they literally don't have any saving at the end of the month. With 52% taxes and mortgage, even with child benefits. of course you don't pay a lot for the education, but the daily operational cost is very high. Small unplanned activity in NL can make you go in the red. Rising energy and grocery prices are not helping either.
Reddit for expat in netherlands is full these posts.
My mother told me that daycare used to be FREE in the 70s and early 80s. She was a working single mother.
Vote long enough for the VVD and you will see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension.
> Even the ones that really want kids simply cannot afford to have one, because the price of living is simply absurd.
Perhaps the price of living to which you are accustomed to is absurd.
> I'm extremely fortunate to be working at a large tech company and I have good money, but even with my income having a kid would be financially ruinous for us.
Would it though? Couples having been raising children with much less for millennia.
> Daycare costs alone are ludicrous, somewhere in the region of 2000-3000 euros PER MONTH.
Children have a lot of economies of scale. If one spouse stays home to watch them, that covers as many kids as you have.
Spending time with grandparents is also common. This is both cost effective and facilitates generational knowledge and culture transfer.