A Polish hotel and property chain is offering employees, homebuyers and hotel guests incentives for having children, launching a programme that it says is intended to contribute to “stemming the negative demographic trend in our country”.
The Arche Group, which owns hotels and property developments across Poland, is offering couples, at least one of whom is a Polish citizen, residing in Poland a free celebration of baptism or a similar event related to a child’s birth, as long as their child was conceived during an Arche hotel stay.
Such couples must demonstrate that the child was born within 300 days of their stay, and that conception occurred in connection with that stay.
Proof must include an invoice or likewise confirming the stay, as well as a short-form copy of the child’s birth certificate.
Meanwhile, couples who purchase an Arche property to live in, as well as Arche employees who conceive children, will be offered cash rewards of 10,000 zloty (€2,350) for each child born over the next five years.
The group’s programme comes in response to its concern about Poland’s declining demographics.
“For years, Poland has had more deaths than births, which is why our population has been steadily declining, not only due to negative natural increase but also emigration, especially among young people. According to data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS), the population at the end of December 2024 was 37.49 million, which means a decline of approximately 157,000 compared to the previous year,” it said in a post announcing the Arche ‘Generations’ programme on its website.
“According to the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) forecast, our population will further decline to approximately 36.57 million in 2029,” it said, adding that “optimistic” models indicate that this means a “population reduction of nearly 1 million people over the next 10 years”.
In its statement, the group said that the declining population can be expected to affect the economy, via “stagnation, labor shortages, declining consumption”, and state finances, via lower tax revenues, greater burden on pension and healthcare systems.
This, it added, will have knock-on effects on quality of life and public services.
“The main causes of this situation are low fertility, later childbearing, lifestyle changes, and increased life expectancy,” it said.
“Through these initiatives, we aim to draw attention to the growing demographic problem and encourage other companies to implement further motherhood incentives.”