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The government aims to maintain and improve the quality of life of families

Katalin Novák said next year’s budget allocates HUF 2,500 billion (EUR 6.9bn), or 5 percent of GDP, to family affairs.

 

Katalin Novák, who was appointed minister of family affairs on Monday, said the Hungarian government aims to maintain and improve the quality of life of families.

The minister said next year’s budget allocates HUF 2,500 billion (EUR 6.9bn), or 5 percent of GDP, to family affairs. That is the largest proportion allocated to family affairs in any European Union member state, and two-and-a-half times the 2010 figure, she added.

Thanks to the government’s policy, the number of marriages has grown by 80 percent in the past decade, Minister Novák said, adding that the number of divorces was at a 60-year low. The number of children born in January-July 2020 was up by 2,500 from the year before, she said.

Regarding women’s employment, the minister said the government offered various options to families. Mothers can stay at home for up to three years with their children if they so choose, she said. At the same time, the government has boosted the capacity of crèches and made family allowance available for grandparents to enable mothers to go back to work should they want to, she added.

Photo credit: Lokál