Hungary's birth rate falling again - what now?
After reaching a high in 2022, the birth rate in Hungary has dropped significantly: it was 11 percent lower in May 2023 than in May 2022 and currently stands at 1.5 births per woman. The national press asks whether Orbán's family policy has failed. At the same time other European countries are also wondering how to counter population decline.
Harassing the childless would be fatal
The Hungarian government's family policy, which prioritises families with several children, is unrealistic but can still be corrected, says Válasz Online:
“In many countries far worse scenarios are playing out than here, where it's just a case of a family policy measure not being effective enough. The situation would be more serious if ruling party Fidesz, like other anti-immigration parties, focused on attacking childless people. Fortunately there are no signs of that, and as long as this remains the case there is a longer-term possibility of adapting family policy to reality in the future, i.e. by providing support above all for the first and second child.”
Doing well by comparison
Hungary's population is declining less rapidly than that of some neighbouring countries despite its low birth rate, the pro-government Magyar Nemzet points out:
“The narrative is not new: nothing is ever any good in Hungary. ... The reality is complex, but the facts show that although it has spread at lightning speed, this narrative is false. ... Just look at the last five years, between 2019 and 2023: Hungary's population fell by 1.2 percent, with only Austria (+2.8), Slovenia (+1.4) and Slovakia (-0.6) faring better among its neighbouring countries. In Romania, the population declined by 1.7 percent, in Serbia by 4.4 percent and in Croatia by more than 5 per cent.”
Integration preserves the Estonian nation
Warnings that the Estonian population is dying out are greatly exaggerated, Eesti Päevaleht insists:
“A nation that has survived wars, famines and epidemics for as long as the Estonians have is never just a nation by blood. What counts is the spirit – that you want to be Estonian. Over the years, the number of Estonians has been added to by people whose ancestors came from elsewhere. ... In general, people who like Estonia for some reason come here. The newcomers could easily fill the gap left by the low birth rate. In fact, there are not many alternatives to a sensible level of migration if we want to maintain our economic prosperity.”
Migration to counter the social crisis
Ilta-Sanomat is convinced that Finland urgently needs more immigration to address its demographic problems:
“The biggest changes behind the decline in fertility are of a cultural nature. Youth lasts much longer than it used to. Many people want to have their lives all set before they start having children. Today, Finnish women have their first child at just over 30 on average. If they want to have more children, they should have them close to each other because from that age onwards fertility already starts to decline. ... The current low birth rate is a social crisis. Its impact will be felt in many ways in the coming years. This is another reason why Finland urgently needs migrants.”