“The government has provided over 900 billion forints (EUR 2.53 billion) in funding to some 200 thousand families over the space of one year within the framework of the Family Protection Action Plan”, the Ministry of Human Capacities’ State Secretary for Family and Youth Affairs Katalin Novák said in Budapest on Tuesday.

At a press conference held at the headquarters of the Mária Kopp Institute for Demographics and Families, Ms. Novák stressed: “The Family Protection Action Plan launched on 1 July of last year opened up a new chapter in the history of Hungarian family subsidies”. “This past year has been about solidarity in the interest of families, and the National Consultation performed prior to the Plan also indicated that there is national agreement in Hungary with relation to the role of family subsidies”, she said.

“Around a hundred thousand people have applied for the ‘baby shower’ subsidy, most of whom requested the maximum available 10 million forints in funding, but the car purchasing subsidy for large families was also popular, as was the waiving of mortgage payments and the loan linked to the family home creation subsidy (CSOK)”, the State Secretary told the press. “43 thousand people have made use of the exemption from personal income tax for mothers of four since January, and the increase in nursery school places is also still ongoing”, she added.

Mr. Novák highlighted that it has been some 40 years since the number of marriages has been as high as it is now, and people’s willingness to have children has also increased by over 20 percent.

“Since 2010, the government has been working to turn an ageing nation with a decreasing population into a nation that is getting younger, and to return lost confidence so that people in Hungary again believe that it is worth having children and raising a family”, she stated.

President of the Mária Kopp Institute for Demographics and Families Tünde Fűrész reported on the fact that some 11,500 people have applied for the loan linked to the family home creation subsidy, and some 18 thousand have requested the waiving of their mortgage payments. Two thirds of people applying for the “baby shower’ subsidy are in their thirties, over half of people requesting the car purchasing subsidy for large families are in their forties, with 40 percent making use of the opportunity while in their thirties, while the average age of people applying for the family home creation subsidy was 37, she told reporters.

Ms. Fűrész emphasised that according to the Institute’s survey to assess the popularity of the Family Protection Action Plan, the majority of people regard the measures as extremely useful, and 20 percent of people polled have in fact made use of at least one of the opportunities being afforded by the plan. “Most people reported on the fact that the funding represents a huge help for them, and according to 20 percent of respondents they would not have decided to have a child or another child without the funding”, the institute president added.

(Ministry of Human Capacities/MTI)