{"id":4224,"date":"2017-06-22T07:06:30","date_gmt":"2017-06-22T06:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/?p=4224"},"modified":"2025-06-08T07:08:34","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T06:08:34","slug":"hungary-birthrate-versus-immigration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/2017\/06\/22\/hungary-birthrate-versus-immigration\/","title":{"rendered":"Hungary: Birthrate versus Immigration"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hungary \u2013 Conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n is known for his anti-immigration rhetoric, and less for his natalist position. But these two go hand in hand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[\u2026] there are two distinct views in Europe today to consider [the decline and aging of our population]. One of these is held by those who want to address Europe\u2019s demographic problems through immigration. And there is another view, held by Central Europe \u2013 and, within it, Hungary. Our view is that we must solve our demographic problems by relying on our own resources and mobilising our own reserves, and \u2013 let us acknowledge it \u2013 by renewing ourselves spiritually.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It is in these terms that Viktor Orb\u00e1n once again put forward a deep dichotomy within the European Union at the 2nd Demographic Forum of the Budapest Family Summit held at the end of May. For the strong man of Hungary, the refusal of immigration goes hand in hand with a natalist policy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Immigration as a Trojan horse of terrorism<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Starting\u00a0his speech by\u00a0describing\u00a0the terrorist threat posed by immigration, Viktor Orb\u00e1n also recalled that immigration changed the nature and quality of life of the peoples of Europe and thus represented a risk even for the competitiveness of the countries of Europe.<\/p>\n<p>The Hungarian Prime Minister made himself known worldwide during his opposition to Brussels and Berlin on the migration issue in 2015 by erecting a fence on the southern border of Hungary \u2013 and of Schengen \u2013 with Serbia. Viktor Orb\u00e1n has since\u00a0said\u00a0that he was ready to do anything to \u201cprotect the young ones and the families\u201d, including\u00a0building\u00a0a wall instead of the fence, should that\u00a0become necessary. For him, \u201cBrussels is on the side of terrorists\u201d, and immigration\u00a0is\u00a0out of the question: according to the Prime Minister, the Hungarians want \u201ca Hungarian Hungary and a European Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Target 2030: increase the birth rate from 1.5 to 2.1<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Hungarian Prime Minister aims to drastically \u201creverse the trend\u201d. In order to do so, the Hungarian government is implementing additional measures to the ones already undertaken in 2015 \u2013 the CSOK program in particular\u00a0which gives\u00a0State grants for the purchase or development of new or renewable real estate by families with more than two children. It is also interesting to note that the government already spends 5% of Hungarian GDP on families.<\/p>\n<p>The new measures announced are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For indebted families, the government pays a sum of one million forints (around \u20ac 3,300) per child as of the third<\/li>\n<li>Construction and renovation of nurseries so that all families have access to them<\/li>\n<li>50% repayment by the State of the student loan for women with their second child, and 100% from the third child<\/li>\n<li>Additional tax reduction for families with more than two children<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>At the same time, Viktor Orb\u00e1n also announced that\u00a0GDP growth would be between 3 and 5% this year\u00a0and that unemployment was about to be\u00a0resolved. These conditions are, for the head of the Hungarian government, essential for fostering population growth.<\/p>\n<p>Marriages in Hungary have also increased by 40% since 2010, according to Fidesz MP Mariusz R\u00e9v\u00e9sz.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stop the bleeding out<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If these measures appear strong \u2013 and they are \u2013 it is because the situation is catastrophic. Viktor Orb\u00e1n does not hide it, however. \u201cIn less than forty years, we\u00a0will lose\u00a0a million inhabitants, which is more than the losses we endured during the Second World War.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The emigration of Hungarians \u2013 especially to Western Europe \u2013 is also an important factor in depopulation. 37% of young people plan to leave Hungary, at least temporarily.<\/p>\n<p>The low rate of marriages, abortion, the gradual loss of the will \u2013 due to individualism but also much to lack of means \u2013 to\u00a0fund\u00a0a home are major factors of demographic decline. Although, the hopes of the Prime Minister are\u00a0not futile\u00a0since in Hungary statistics show that if the fertility rate is 1.5, the average number of desired children is almost 2.<\/p>\n<p>The urgency is therefore indisputable. And the Hungarian government is paving the way for an era of important and non-partisan policy. It is unlikely that Viktor Orb\u00e1n will reap himself the fruits of his natalist policy because he will probably no longer be a candidate for an election in the 2030s \u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>The \u201cilliberal\u201d turn of Hungary takes on its full meaning<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The organization and support of the World Congress of Families, as well as the intervention of Viktor Orb\u00e1n himself,\u00a0is\u00a0a strong symbol. Hungary is now part of an illiberal line, but it is still an ordinary European country regarding abortion\u00a0and\u00a0\u201cwomen\u2019s rights\u201d. It should be noted, however, that Hungary has already stopped renewing aids granted to clinics practicing abortion.<\/p>\n<p>During this Congress,\u00a0liberalism got targeted, as did the\u00a0UN,abortions\u00a0and the promotion of women\u2019s rights opposed to Human rights. For the liberal-libertarian opposition, government support for this Congress, and the place given to religion in the debate around the notion of family, are strong gestures that cause fear\u00a0for\u00a0a decline\u00a0of\u00a0the influence of LGBT lobbies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hungary \u2013 Conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n is known for his anti-immigration rhetoric, and less for his natalist position. But these two go hand in hand. \u201c[\u2026] there are two distinct views in Europe today to consider [the decline and aging of our population]. One of these is held by those who want to address<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"acf":{"subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/visegradpost.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}