Originally published May 31, 2023 7:03 am PDT
Hungary leads the way with its family policy model.
QUICK FACTS:
- European leaders are calling for the expansion of the family unit as various European countries face demographic changes.
- For example, the current fertility rate in Finland is 1.32, compared to the European average of 1.53.
- Germany is also seeing a population increase among its immigrant population rather than its citizens.
- Where several European countries are foreseeing a population crisis, Hungary leads the way with pro-family policies.
- In 2017, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated Hungary had a goal of raising the fertility rate from 1.5 to 2.1 by 2030.
- In 2021, Orbán reemphasized Hungary’s goal, suggesting that the government must help the family unit prosper.
- Hungary’s family policy model includes 5 key areas: children should be considered a financial advantage, families should be encouraged to purchase a home, mothers are central, Hungary is to become more family-friendly, and the integrity of the family is to be protected by law.
- Since adopting the family policies, Hungary’s marriage rate has nearly doubled.
- Hungary also increased its spending on families and is now seeing a 1.59 fertility rate.
ITALY CALLS FOR MORE BIRTHS:
- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government has proposed incentives for the country to have more children, as Italy has the lowest birth rate in Europe.
- Several of those incentives include lowering taxes for those with children, government aid in the home-buying process, and recommending communities provide free daycare for working parents.
- “We live in an era in which speaking about the birthrate, of maternity, of family has become even more difficult, sometimes it seems almost a revolutionary act,” Meloni said at a conference alongside Pope Francis.
- “We want it no longer to be scandalous to say that we are all born of a man and a woman, that it is not taboo to say that the birthrate is not for sale, that the uterus cannot be rented and children are not over-the-counter products that you can choose and then perhaps return,” Meloni continued.
BACKGROUND:
- While Europe is calling for more births, an essay published in Scientific American argued that a declining population is “good” for the environment.
- “We should all be celebrating population decline,” the author argued.
- The author claims that if the human population increases, wildlife, ecosystems, and biodiversity would be threatened.