The “Mama 4+” program discriminates against Polish fathers, but not foreigners
The Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy wants to change the provisions regarding the benefit “Mama 4 Plus” called maternal retirement. Currently, mothers are paid mainly after reaching retirement age, i.e. 60 years.
Mother’s pension is a supplementary benefit in the amount of minimum pension. It is a support for women who devoted themselves to raising at least four children, giving up their professional work or working too briefly to get the right to a minimal retirement.
Until now, fathers after 65 years of age were only available in emergency situations: in the event of her mother’s death or abandoning her children.
Foreigners in front of their fathers in the queue after a mother’s pension
The program came into force in March 2019. Since then, 83 thousand receive a compensatory benefit. 679 people. From March 1, 2019 to July 31, 2025, the total amount of support amounted to over PLN 3.3 billion.
Among the beneficiaries of “Mama 4+” there are also 50 foreigners: 22 citizens of Ukraine, five Armenia, five Mongolia, three Bulgaria, three Russia, two from Belarus and Afghanistan, Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, India, Japan, Moldova, Germany, Romania and Hungary.
This is not an automatically granted benefit. To receive them, you must submit an application to the President of the Social Insurance Institution or the President of the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund.
Podhale and eastern Poland save fertility
The Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy (MRPiPS) has announced that comprehensive legal, economic and social analyzes are underway regarding the assessment of changes in regulations to extend the benefit to fathers.
ZUS data covering the period until July 31, 2025 shows that 106,000 are applying for the benefit. 668 people, of which only 676 applications were submitted by men.
In Poland, many children can be found less and less often. In this respect, Podhale definitely stands out. In the Nowy Sącz region, there are as many as 75 pairs with at least four descendants for every 1000 couples with children. In the neighboring Nowotarski region it is 63 couples. The third place went to the Chojnice region with a result of 49 to 1000 par. High in the ranking are also families living in eastern Poland.
