President of Hungary Katalin Novak has warned that Europe’s collapsing birthrate is the greatest crisis facing the continent as every country is reproducing below replacement rates, with only her own country having implemented plans to address the emergency.
Katalin told interviewers in an hour-long discussion before the Budapest Demographic Forum that “[n]ot having enough children is not only a Hungarian phenomenon, it is the same everywhere… If we just think about the fact that there is not a single country in Europe today that has enough children to even maintain its population — so we are not talking about population growth — then we can sense how big the problem is.”
She then quoted X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk that the Western baby bust is more serious than “climate change,” explaining, “I am also inclined to take that as a true statement. It is a problem for Europe as a whole, and indeed for the Western world as a whole.”
Hungary has been at the forefront of trying to increase birthrates, with Prime Minister Viktor Orban suggesting in 2018 that the combination of low birth rates and mass immigration could bring about “the end of Christian Europe.” As a result, the Hungarian government has introduced various policies to incentivize parents to have more children, such as subsidizing family homes and tax reductions for families with children.
Birth rates would have to exceed 2.1 per woman to maintain current population levels, however, most countries are far below this target. France’s birthrate is 1.83, Germany’s is 1.53, Hungary’s is 1.56, Britain’s is also 1.56, and Italy’s is just 1.24.
Yet, it is not only Europe that is struggling to maintain its population, as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is actively encouraging the Chinese people to increase procreation, even offering to cover the costs of IVF treatment.
