Századvég: The importance of family values remains indisputable in Europe

Since 2016, Századvég Institute’s Project Europe research program has demonstrated that, despite the supposed differences in ideology, Europeans unequivocally value the institution of the family.

Last year, Századvég stated that Europeans would rather solve the continent's demographic crisis through family support and childbearing than through immigration.

This time around, the research series focused on the significance of family values, how the LGBTQ movement is viewed, and the impact of traditional family perceptions.

For Europeans, family values are extremely important.

It is extremely uncommon to find a social issue where there is almost universal social agreement. Recent years have demonstrated how important families are to most Europeans, and this is especially true in Hungary.

The most recent study by Századvég examined the importance of family values by country and groups of countries, as previous findings had clearly pointed in the same direction.

Some 73 percent of EU respondents hold a favorable attitude toward the idea of family, while only 7 percent said the opposite. Even in the countries with the lowest positive response rates — Sweden, Slovenia, Germany, and France — 66-68 percent of survey participants selected the somewhat positive response.

While the Czech Republic leads non-Balkan nations with a positive response rate of 82 percent, it is primarily the Balkan nations that have the most positive attitudes toward family values.

When looking at the geographical groups of nations, people who reside in the EU-founding nations appear to have the lowest percentage of positive responses, but they are still not far behind the average of the entire sample, with 70 percent of respondents still holding a positive view. The former-socialist and V4 countries, on the other hand, gave positive responses above the sample average.

In modern societies, childhood and adolescence have become priority areas for educational attitudes and principles.

Education and moral issues have traditionally been the subject of social debates about the state and its institutional systems, on the one hand, and the family, on the other. The 20th century saw changes on a global level that can be characterized as a pluralization of family structures.

Many of the current social and political conflicts surrounding the subject of childrearing can be understood in the context of this sociological theory. From this angle, the Századvég Europe Project examined the social perception of the LGBTQ movement as well as what, if given a choice, respondents would advise their government to do: Should it concentrate on protecting families, supporting families, and encouraging childbearing, or rather focus on protecting and supporting the LGBTQ community and sexual minorities?

Although Europeans are ambivalent about the LGBTQ movement, the majority reject the promotion of LGBTQ ideologies in schools.

In 38 countries, an average of 62 percent prefer traditional family structures, while 23 percent believe that, given the choice, support for LGBTQ movements should be bolstered.

Again, the Western Balkans take the most extreme stance, with 82 percent in favor of families and only 10 percent supporting LGBTQ rights.

Only Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Belgium do not exceed the 50 percent threshold, with results ranging from 38 to 49 percent.

Hungary, the Czech Republic, Portugal, and Greece are among the nations with the highest approval ratings for family support, along with the Balkan region, where family support is still the most important priority over support for the LGBTQ movement.

There is essentially only one nation (the Netherlands) where the need for family support is not predominate. All other nations favor family support to a greater or lesser extent.

All in all, there is a strong majority of people who think their governments should support families over the LGBTQ community in every region polled.

It is clear that all Europeans want to preserve their notion and picture of the traditional family, alongside its structures and values, that has held together and shaped our civilization for thousands of years. And the Hungarian government is determined to stay on this path, helping families to build and grow in peace, stability and prosperity.