BERLIN (Xinhua) -- German Family Minister Ursula von der Leyen expressed her hope on Sunday that the country's population will stop dropping as the government adopts a new state-funded parents' support policy to encourage Germans to have more children.

The new parents money benefit represented the "first, but, key component" in helping Germany to address the decline of the country's population, the minister said. "I would be extremely pleased, if it succeeded in stopping this dramatic decrease of the birth rate," Von der Leyen was quoted as saying in an interview by the German news agency DPA

At the end of 2006, Germany's population was 82.5 million, essentially unchanged from the prior year. However, the World Bank projects that Germany's population will decline to about 80.3 million by 2015 and some analysts even predict that the figure may drop to 50 million by 2050.

Under the government's new child welfare policy effective on Jan. 1, for a period of one year, one parent who interrupts his or her career in order to raise children will receive 67 percent of their last net income, but with a ceiling of 1,800 euros (2,340 U.S. dollars) a month, while staying at home.

However, this benefit is only paid for the entire period if the father also stays at home for at least two months. The move is aimed to make it more natural for fathers to take time off to raise children as well.

In Germany, a family's first child is paid 154 euros (200 U.S. dollars) every month by the government, and a fourth is paid 179 euros (233 U.S. dollars) until the age of 18. A mother also enjoys the legal right to up to three years leave from work for taking care of her child after giving birth.