Early in the morning, the sun gilded the earth, the humid air was mixed with a bit of sweetness, and the withered trees began to sprout, telling the arrival of spring.
Today was another good day. After a simple breakfast. Opening a colonial development report, Franz began his day's work.
Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't care about these details, but this time was a bit special. The New Brook area released a large satellite last year, which attracted the attention of the Government of Vienna.
The New Brook area's birthrate exceeded 5.1% for three years in a row. Other than the Hairy Bear, none of the major European countries could compare.
As an immigrant area, it was normal for the population to have a higher birthrate. However, maintaining this record for three years in a row attracted the attention of Franz.
This was the era of the European population explosion, and the birthrate of each country was very high.
Russia was naturally the European champion. According to the collected data, the Austrian Census Bureau determined that the lowest birthrate of the Hairy Bear in the past decade was 4.92%, and the highest was 5.39%. Most of the time, it exceeded 5.1%.
Well, this data was incomparable. The Hairy Bear had a high birthrate because their mortality rate was also high.
In this era, the normal mortality rate of the Russian population was generally around 3.6%, and occasionally exceeded 4.0%. They were also the European champion.
If it was based on the birthrate of ordinary countries, the Russian Empire would have been empty.
Looking at the overall situation in Europe, Austria's performance was also good. The birthrate maintained around 4.1%, only lower than Russia.
If you looked at the specific birthrate, you would find that the birthrate in Central Europe was low, and some areas had dropped to 3.6%; the birthrate in Southern Europe was high, and some areas could reach 4.5%.
The more developed the area, the lower the birthrate. This had become the biggest problem Franz faced. If he didn't change this situation, he would just have to look at France next door.
As the most open country in Europe, France's birthrate was generally around 2.6%, and the mortality rate hovered around 2.3%, maintaining a very weak growth rate.
If this was the future, the French would probably go crazy with this birthrate. Unfortunately, this era was not eye-catching at all. This was the era when everyone was producing people at full capacity.
In the face of such a high mortality rate, anyone who dared to be sterile would be waiting for the extinction of their race!
Franz had already accepted the fact that the birth rate was not as good as that of Russia. With the advantage of medical technology, the population growth rate was finally equal to that of Russia.
Franz had also issued many documents to encourage childbirth, but it had little effect. The birth rate of most of the colonies was not high, and coupled with the high mortality rate, the population growth rate had always been very low.
Franz had to pay attention to the booming birth rate in the New Brook area. This was related to their future plans. If they could promote it, they would make a lot of money.
This report was not submitted by the colonial officials themselves, but by the investigation team sent by Franz himself.
The reason was simple. What if someone falsified the data?
Africa wasn't Southeast Asia or America, so it was impossible for them to be of mixed blood. If those regions produced a bunch of mixed-bloods, they might really be able to fool them. As long as their characteristics weren't too obvious, it would be very difficult to tell them apart at a glance.
With the integrity of the bureaucrats, it was normal for them to falsify data for political achievements. Therefore, the birth rate in Southeast Asia and Central America had always been high. As long as it wasn't too excessive, the Government of Vienna wouldn't pursue it. Africa didn't have the conditions to follow suit.
As a key area, the Government of Vienna attached more importance to Africa than the other colonies combined.
In order to ensure control over the colonies, it had always been a key area of supervision, and the autonomy of the bureaucrats was limited.
For example, the governor in other colonies was in charge of the army and the people. Here, the governor was also the supreme commander, but he was only a military officer in charge of the military, and the civil affairs were managed by the local government.
Not being able to make up the numbers didn't mean that it couldn't be falsified. The mortality rate in the colonies had always been high, but with the improvement of local development and medical technology, the mortality rate continued to decline.
If a bureaucrat falsified the birth rate and increased the birth rate, and then continued to use the previous mortality rate, it would imperceptibly increase the number of deaths.
Artificially increasing the number of deaths would offset this part of the fake birth rate, and the accounts would be wiped clean.
In any case, as long as the mortality rate in the colonies didn't increase, it could be accounted for. The birth rate was one of the criteria for the performance of local officials.
The person who came up with this method was said to have a background in accounting, and was best at falsifying accounts.
Currently, he was sent by Franz to work in a state-owned mining company that was about to go bankrupt. He could only return to the city when the company was revived.
Talents were hard to come by, and they couldn't be wasted. If he did well, he could save a state-owned enterprise; if not, he could only stay in the mines for the rest of his life.
…
After reading the report carefully, Franz believed that this time the data wasn't falsified. The measures listed above could indeed stimulate fertility.
All the benefits in the New Brook area were linked to the number of children. The more children, the more benefits.
For example, only parents who had children were eligible to receive unemployment benefits from the government. (Those who made contributions to the country or made significant contributions to society are not restricted.)
There was also a very humane rule. One child counted as one share, and parents with two children could receive two shares. There was no cap on the number. (If one of the husband and wife lost their job, they would receive a 50% discount.)
This was only one of the benefits. As a city of immigrants, the housing in the New Brook area was provided by the city government. This was also one of the incentives to encourage immigrants.
After all, the land wasn't worth much, and the main cost was the construction. Providing housing was not a big problem. The New Brook government provided small houses, usually less than 50 square meters.
On the other hand, the government deliberately set a high price for large houses, almost on par with the housing prices in Vienna. In short, ordinary people couldn't afford them.
Then there was a rule: those who had three or more children could enjoy a housing discount. For each additional child, they would get 40 square meters. For families with more than eight children, the government would provide free renovation and a set of furniture.
Apart from these, there was also a series of preferential policies, such as maternity leave and maternity subsidies. Although it wasn't much, the importance of the local government was evident.
There was even a pension. Austria had a pension, but only those who had contributed to the country were eligible.
The New Brook government expanded the scope of benefits. As long as one had five children or more, the standard was calculated based on the number of children. Each additional child would increase the pension by 30%.
This could be skipped. In this era, the average age was still around 40. It was rare to live to 60 and receive a pension.
Austria didn't have a pension system. It wasn't that Franz didn't care about it, but there was no need for it.
Those who could live to 60 and above usually came from well-off families. If they were too poor, they wouldn't have such a long lifespan.
A series of measures to encourage childbirth was very disharmonious for single people, DINK families, and families with few children. Unless they had contributed to the country, these social benefits had nothing to do with them.
Franz even suspected that there were transmigrators who had entered this place. Perhaps they were frightened by the low fertility rate of the future generations, so they came up with such extreme measures to stimulate the population.
No matter what, it was good as long as it was effective. As long as the people didn't object, Franz naturally wouldn't have any objections.
Since it was implemented in the New Brook area and was effective, it meant that the people wouldn't be too resistant.
Using limited funds to stimulate childbirth and increase the population growth rate was significant to Austria.
If this continued, Austria's birth rate might even surpass Russia's.
Franz was very suspicious that if this policy became a national policy, would the European countries follow suit? If everyone did this, wouldn't the world be ruined?
Soon, he dispelled this worry. Even if they could give birth, they had to raise them well. In this era, there were many families with five or six children. How many children could they raise was a problem.
Before condoms, pregnancies were usually uncontrolled. Every country had a high birth rate, and the abandonment rate was also very high.
At this time, Franz suddenly realized that Austria's compulsory education also stimulated the population growth. After all, the school provided meals during the compulsory education period, which saved family expenses.
This was a pleasant surprise. When the school decided to provide meals, it was to encourage parents to send their children to school. For this reason, the students still had to rely on the sand table for a long time to study.
After 1860, all students were guaranteed to receive textbooks. Since last year, they could only receive free workbooks.
Austria played the poorest compulsory education, which would probably be praised by many scholars in the future. After all, only stories could be passed down.
Even now, the sand table was not lost. After all, paper was still very expensive. The workbooks distributed by the school still couldn't meet the demand.
Franz immediately decided to pass on this meaningful sand table to the next generation. Should he put on a show and let his sons use it? This was a question worth thinking about.
In the end, he decided to save face. This was too fake. If word got out, no one would believe it. He would most likely be laughed at.
Franz didn't plan to implement this crazy population stimulation plan himself. He directly handed it over to the prime minister.
A good emperor couldn't steal the cabinet's work. Since the prime minister was going to retire, it was a good time to implement this before he left.
Otherwise, if a new person took over, he wouldn't have enough prestige. It was hard to say if he could withstand the pressure and implement this plan. Being scolded was inevitable. At least the liberals would scold the government.
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