Marion Dunai and Valentina Romei:

Total family subsidy spending exceeds 5 per cent of GDP, or more than double what Hungary spends on defence…

From a record low of 1.23 children per woman in 2011, the country’s fertility rate rose to 1.59 in 2020, but in recent years it has levelled off to about 1.5. In the first half of this year the fertility rate stood at 1.36 babies per woman, the lowest in a decade, said state statistical service KSH. In June, births fell to a record monthly low of barely 6,000 children in the country of 10mn, or about half the level of live births seen in Hungary a generation ago, KSH data shows.

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