BUDAPEST: Led by Hungary, the nations of Central Europe are ramping up efforts to halt population collapse.
At a conference on family policy in Budapest last week, Hungarian parliamentary representative Gabriella Selmeczi conceded Europe is in the midst of demographic crisis.
The fertility rate “needs to be improved,” she rallied participants. “[W]e have to do something.” ut in contrast to the approach of western European Union nations, the Visegrád Group (Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia), is committing to boosting population growth naturally, instead of through mass migration.
Pointing to her own country, Selmeczi suggested a robust national family policy could help solve the European population implosion.
Since 2010, Hungary has instituted a series of pro-family measures, more than doubling the amount spent annually on family support to 4.8 percent of GDP. Hungarian families have three or more children.
Still, the fertility rate remains well below the replacement level (2.1), at which population stabilizes. If the current rate holds steady, over the next quarter-century, Hungary’s population will fall from 9.8 million to 8.5 million.
