Special Aspects of the Formation of the Hungarian Family Policy and the Birth Rates In Demographic, Sociological and Public Finance Context, with International Perspectives

Abstract

The study analyses the demographic and sociological context of the Hungarian family subsidising regime in respect of its public policy dynamics, with international perspectives.
The initial state of the paper reflects that the economic consolidation following the 2007–2008 crisis has been envisioning the financial stabilisation of the households, and indirectly, the improvement of the economic conditions of child raising. Following the steadying of the growth in the economy, it has been conceptualising in a broad, institutionalised family and home subsidising system. The study reviews the international publications about the context of governmental subsidies and birth rates and proves that widening the scope of the Hungarian home subsidising and other public finance tools does not have an end result of the necessary rate of reproduction and fertility. In other words, the governmental subsidies for child raising (e.g. family housing supports, tax allowances, and state coordination of the child raising benefits) represent a necessary but not sufficient precondition to the improvement of birth rate statistics. The housing-subsidising policies and the state benefits for living do not primarily or exclusively influence the fertility rates in their supposed manner.
The authors recommend an extended scientific and broader-scope empirical survey-based research of the operation and methodology of the current family policy regime. Conversely, they emphasise that the commencement of the family housing supports three years ago has initiated a shift in the unfavourable birth rates, however, only the human, moral and ethical aspects of childbearing and the reinforcement of the family-centred behaviour can form a solid basis of childbearing.