Pavel Kohout writing on TechCentralStation:

When a modern young European has to choose between setting up a family of his own and a comfortable life without children, he is very likely to pick the latter option — unless he belongs to a social class which regards children chiefly as a source of social benefits. A high amount of taxation combined with ill-functioning labor and housing markets is a truly genocidal mix. That is the case of Italy, but also Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. Its impact cannot be corrected by all sorts of government subsidies paid out to young families. On the contrary, under certain circumstances the benefits for families may even lead to a drop in birth rate….