As a newly married, many of my relatives told me that I should have babies while I and my husband are young. They also mentioned the benefits of having babies like how we’ll have support when we grow old (I don’t mind being childless when I’m 70), and that our children will take our legacy forward (not that I come from raaj-gharaana), and so on. The thought of having babies sounds very cute and mushy until you calculate the price of raising a baby. And if you are someone who is living in a bubble of how you and your partner will manage to raise a child in the lappu-si salary you’ll draw, then you need to read this report.
Total cost to raise a child
A new report by HT Mint has broken down how much it costs to raise a child in this economy and the numbers are staggering! Definitely brought down my baby fever, huh! Keeping the size of the family and other factors in mind, those who want to have babies need to keep around Rs. 2.5 to 4.5 lakhs annually to raise a baby. Over a period of 20 years, you will be spending Rs 1 crore to raise your child.
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Cost of child’s education
Naturally, if you have a child, you ought to educate it, don’t you? So, if your child studies in India, its educational cost will come to around Rs 15-50 lakhs, and if your child decides to study abroad, then, be ready to spend over Rs 3 crores.
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Cost of clothes
The expenses for children’s clothes, as mentioned in the report, goes up to Rs 20,000 to Rs 36,000.
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Twitter reactions
People discussed this article online and went ahead to call it the best contraceptive ad they have come across. Another Twitter user said that most people are not financially ready to have a baby.
One of them also joked that they will have to take another job now.
Given the inflation and the economy, people should be mindful if they are financially ready to have kids.