“The Demographics Summit is being held for the third time in Budapest. On Thursday and Friday, politicians, scientists, church representatives and public figures will be holding lectures and exchanging experiences with relation to demographics challenges”, the Ministry of Human Capacities’ State Secretary for Family and Youth Affairs announced at a press conference in Budapest on Monday.

Katalin Novák told the press that the 3rd Budapest Demographics Summit will be held in the Castle Gardens Bazaar as a continuation of the 2015 and 2017 conferences, with speakers attending from every continent.

“The goal of the event is to keep on the agenda one of the great challenges of our age, the issue of demographics, because the future will be decided by who will be living in Europe and whether there will be a Christian Europe, and this is a particularly important question for Hungarians because the fate of the Hungarian here in the heart of Europe is inseparable from the fate of Europe itself”, the State Secretary said.

She added that although there are parts of the world that are suffering from overpopulation, in the developed world the number of births is decreasing, and “the cradles are empty”, as if people are relinquishing the future.

“Hungary, however, is not avoiding the issue of demographics, but would instead like to remedy the problem, and accordingly it has been keeping the question on the agenda continuously since 2010 and would like to find a solution to it”, Ms. Novák highlighted, declaring that Hungary’s response is not to support mass immigration, but to help Hungarian families with a strong family policy.

“People can see that the Hungarian model is working and is worth sharing, and this is why they are making Budapest the capital of families for the third time now”, the State Secretary said.

President of the National Association of Large Families Katalin Gyurkó Kardosné spoke about the fact that the Demographics Summit will provide an opportunity to learn, to protect interests and to showcase values. “We will be able to show people that it is good to live in a family, and present the well-functioning Hungarian family policy model”, she added.

Well-known and acknowledged public figures will also be arriving in Budapest for the Summit, including former member of the national football team Ottó VIncze and his wife, handball player Anita Görbicz. As the press conference, Mr. Vincze said it is very important to support such initiatives, because the Hungarians have a long history at the heart of Europe, and they also have the faith to continue to build the future.

(Ministry of Human Capacities/MTI)