The planned expansion of the Mother’s Pension in Germany is set to add billions in costs, primarily funded by taxpayers, with significant implications for social welfare funding.
The Mother’s Pension, often referred to as 'Herdprämie', is a significant concern for the Christian Social Union (CSU) in Germany, currently costing the pension insurance system approximately 13.5 billion euros annually. Existing calculations show that the costs for the first phase of the Mother’s Pension (Mütterrente I) introduced in 2014 were around nine billion euros in 2024, while the second phase (Mütterrente II), in effect since January 2019, incurred about half that amount. However, as the pension is expanded in 2027, it is expected that additional billion-euro costs will arise, which will be funded from different budgets rather than directly from pension contributions.
