Supporting Families Can Be a Solution to Europe's Demographic Problems
The Visegrád Group (V4) agree that the support of families could be a solution to demographic problems affecting Europe, said the State Secretary for Family and Youth Affairs at the V4 Family Conference at the Ministry of Human Resources.
Addressing the event Strong Families for a Strong Europe!, Katalin Novák said that only strong families could build and maintain a strong nation and region, and Europe could be strengthened if leaders recognized the strength lying within the family.
The demographic situation is problematic throughout Europe, as the states are aging and there is no country where enough children were born to maintain the population and to rejuvenate nations - said the State Secretary during the event held at the Parliament on the occassion of the Hungarian V4 Presidency and the Year of Families.
On the conference, which was held for the first, but hopefully not least time, they have discussed why not enough children were born, the countries have presented their own practices, their family policies, shared their experiences, and spoke openly about the challenges. During the panel discussions, representatives of professional and civil organizations formulated a common position that one of the greatest values of good family policy is stability and predictability.
Gabriella Vukovich, President of the Central Statistical Office (KSH), presented the global demographic trends, predicting that the Earth's population will grow from current 7.6 billion to 2050 by another two billion, and Africa shall be the most populous continent within 10-15 years. By 2100, however, fertility rates will fall below the value of 2 in the world, which shows how many children in a family are being born on average - she has added.
Europe's population will decline by four percent by 2050, while in the least developed countries, most of which will reach the continent, the population will grow by 40 percent - sha has reported the data.
Balázs Orbán, Director General of the Migration Research Institute, said that a widespread view is that family policy can be a tool for integration of migrants, and there is less talk about that migration can be used to destabilize the host regions and can impose a civilization challenge.
