The effects of pro-family policies in Hungary
From an article by Lifesite News
"Hungary's ever increasing support for families by the government is creating an environment where marriages and families are flourishing and abortion numbers are dropping", Katalin Novàk, Hungarian Minister of State for the Family, Youth and International Affairs advised a recent international conference on life and family.
The support has caused abortion numbers to plunge by more than a third of what they were in 2010 (40,449 to 28,500). It has also caused a plunge in the number of divorces (23,873 in 2010 to 18,600 in 2017) and a surge in the number of marriages (35,520 in 2010 to 50,600 in 2017).
This has been achieved with a stable, complex, targeted and flexible family policy that is capable of adapting to changing needs and conditions. The policy is entitled, “Hungarian Family Policy in the Spirit of Humanae Vitae and Veritatis Splendor”. Katalin Novak’s address was delivered to a May 21 conference in Rome on the topic of “Human Life, the Family, and the Splendor of Truth: Gifts of God.”
The Fundamental Law (Hungary’s constitution) attaches special importance to the family, protects the institution of marriage, and states that the foundation of family lies in marriage and in parent-child relationship. It declares that Hungary shall encourage the commitment to have children.
Hungary’s approach includes assisting families with reconciling of work and family obligations. Considering this “of key importance,” current Hungarian family policy has comprehensive programs to offer this help to families. Helping families includes maternity support, paid childcare leave, family tax benefits and housing allowance, tax allowances that encourage young couples to marry, vacation benefits, no-charge holiday camps for children, subsidized textbooks, and decreased utility costs. Families have seen significant financial gains, including a 63.8% increase since 2010 in the net average earnings of the Hungarian families due to the family tax reduction alone.
Hungary spends 4.8 % of its GDP for such purposes comparing to the OECD average of 2.55%.
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From an article by LifeSite News, 14/08/2018