Parents who have a third child between 2019 and 2021 will be given a parcel of state-owned land for 20 years, the Italian government announced.
Proposed by Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party, the policy was included in the government’s budget plan for next year.
Italy has the lowest birth rate in the European Union.
Last year around 464,000 births were registered, a record low for the nation.
According to Coldiretti, Italy’s agricultural association, the state owns 1.2 million acres of farmland worth almost €10 billion.
Lorenzo Fontana, Italy’s minister for family and disability, wants the “land-for-children” idea to be available to married couples, rather than those bound by civil unions, according to Italian daily Il Corriere Della Sera.
