But will it be enough to raise the birthrate?
(PRI) Hungary is hungry for babies.
Its earlier set of pro-natalist policies bumped its total fertility rate up from 1.4 to almost 1.6 children per women over her reproductive lifetime. While this was a significant increase, it was still well below the 2.1 children needed to stave off population collapse.
So Prime Minister Viktor Orban is doubling down.
Already in March of this year, he announced that the tax deduction for children will be doubled, and that mothers with two or more children will be completely exempted from paying income taxes. These changes took effect on October 1st.
But it doesn’t end there.
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In 2026, the exemption from paying income taxes will be extended to mothers under 30 who have only one child. This measure is intended to encourage young couples not to delay having children, on the principle that fertility delayed is fertility denied. It should also have the happy effect of lowering the country’s abortion rate.
In addition to the tax exemption for young mothers, all other pro-family benefits–including the country’s maternity allowance, childcare allowance, and adoption allowance–will also be exempted from taxation.
Orbán has made it clear that his goal is to raise the fertility rate to greater than 2.1 by the end of the decade. And that he is going to do it without bringing in massive numbers of immigrants to replace Hungarians. In fact, Hungary’s immigration policy is the strictest in Europe, which is undoubtedly why its rates of violent crime are also far lower than countries like France, Germany and the UK, which have allowed migrants to flood in.
While many European leaders are just starting to admit that their countries are facing a birth dearth, Hungary’s leader has been laser focused on combatting the dangers of a declining population since 2019.
That was the year that he went all in on supporting Hungarian families by launching what he called the Family Protection Action Plan. This plan included:
- Tax breaks for mothers with four or more children
- Student loan forgiveness for couples with three or more children
- Housing subsidies for newlyweds
- Car purchase subsidies for large families.
The plan went beyond mere economic measures; it was a serious attempt to rebuild a pro-family culture. In the years since, the message of the Hungarian government, repeated in broadcasts, interviews, and social media, is that raising a family is not a burden, but rather is a source of pride and strength.
These policies do not come cheap. The generous tax breaks that have been announced will undoubtedly reduce the government’s tax revenue, at least over the short term. Moveover, between 5% and 6% of Hungary’s GDP is already being directly spent on various pro-family subsidies. Hungary is making a significant investment in the country’s future in other words, and one which will not see quick returns.
Of course, if these measures save Hungary from slowly dying, it will be worth every penny. The babies born today will form the families, the communities, and the workforce of tomorrow.
We in the United States should pay close attention to Hungary’s attempt to address the depopulation crisis. As everyone knows, we are now facing our own. Right now, our two countries both have fertility rates which are well below replacement.
Hungary is going all out to increase its fertility rate. It is foresightedly enacting the kinds of programs that we at PRI have been recommending for years, including sheltering mothers of two or more children from all income taxes. If Hungary succeeds in replacing itself, then not just the U.S. but other dying European countries should quickly follow.
Tweet This: Hungary is going all out to increase its fertility rate.
It was not so long ago that Hungary was, like every other developed nation, on a seemingly irreversible path of demographic decline. The left-wing governments in charge prior to 2010 offered almost no benefits to families with several children. Like progressives everywhere, they had no time for children and no love for the family, which they saw as an obstacle to their plans to reengineer society.
The Hungarian government of the time not only did not encourage childbearing, but rather the opposite: Motherhood was denigrated, and women were encouraged to join the work force. To make matters worse, it raised taxes, crippled the economy, and caused such high unemployment that many people were discouraged from having children.
Sound familiar?
The United States saw a similar shift in government from left to right with the 2024 election, but we have yet to catch up to Hungary in terms of supporting families. We need our public policy to reflect the truth, emphasized by Vice President J. D. Vance at the 2025 March for Life, that America is at its core a pro-family nation.
At the same time, we must understand that there is no quick fix for our lagging fertility. Nations that invest in the family won’t begin to see a “payoff” for some twenty years, but this is all the more reason to start now. Just as depopulation takes decades to manifest itself, so repopulation takes an equally long stretch of time. And the more time elapses before we start, the longer it will take for us to recover. For us at PRI, that isn’t an option.
This is why the example of Hungary is so important. If any country in Europe–or the world–is is going to reverse its demographic fortunes, it is Hungary.
And the U.S. should follow in its footsteps.
Editor's note: This article was published by Population Research Institute and is reprinted with permission.
