The Hungarian parliament has approved a series of bills aimed at reversing Hungary's declining demographic trend.
According to Rmx.news, parliament approved with a large majority a series of amendments aimed at reversing the country's population decline.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán first spoke of this initiative in his February state of the nation address, when he declared that Hungary - unlike Western European nations that wish to solve the issue through migration - is committed to increasing domestic birth rates as the main solution.
These measures include a preferential loan to families with at least one newborn, with part of the loan written off at the birth of the second child and entirely pardoned at the birth of the third child. Mothers with four or more children will be exempt from income tax and families with at least three children will get a state-sponsored rebate for family cars with seven seats. Already generous housing support for families with small children will be further expanded.
State Minister of the Ministry of Human Capacities Bencze Rétvári - on behalf of the ministry sponsoring the amendments - said Hungary is among the European countries with the highest state support for families, with 4.5 percent of GDP going towards that.
He added that in the past few years the conservative government has increased family support by more than HUF 1,000 billion (EUR 3.11 billion) a year.