It is still pretty much winter in Hungary. Cold. My dear limbs long for a good stroll on one sunny afternoon. Come to think about it, what do people do in Budapest do on a sunny afternoon? There are many options; as to eat out, shop, enjoy the Danube, or simply have some quiet time in the Margit Island. Whichever, I hope you would spare some time to count how many youngsters you see. Not many, I say. It has indeed become a problem for the country as the population is decreasing from 10,006,835 in July 2005 to 9,981,334 in 2006.

The club of the industrialized countries; the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, reported that Hungary has the highest teacher/student ratio among its members. We cannot be happy with the news, because there is the same number of teachers as two decades ago; only with fewer students.
Why is that, you ask. It is simply because people don’t want children, of course. The fact is since 1990, the rate of abortion in Hungary has been increased by 20%, and is the third highest rate of abortions among the top 100 countries tracked, measured as a percentage of the overall population. Erik D’Amato of Pestiside wrote, for every 1,000 Hungarians, there are 7.66 abortions, compared to 4.17 per 1000 Americans and just 2.19 per 1000 Canadians.

He went further, “In 50 years’ time the population of Hungary will drop by at least 35%, while the number of non-Roma (Gypsy) Hungarians drops even further. Current figures suggest that this year may produce the smallest crop of new Hungarians since the darkest days of WWII.”

Only 30% of 30-year-old women in Hungary have had a child. According to a committee on demographics at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, every women of childbearing age would need to give birth to at least three children for the decline to stop in the next 10-15 years. Will they? I doubt.

First of all, to have baby in Hungary means to face the complex bureaucracy. Thanks to the healthcare system, doctors demand Ft 100,000 (US$ 500) on each delivery they help, despite that people must have healthcare insurance. I call this bribery, but they call it hálapénz—which is legal. Just imagine, the minimum salary is Ft 46,000, so how will those people pay it, I wouldn’t want to know.

Once the baby is delivered, things may not be easier for the parents—especially when they are not married. 46% of married couples in the country divorce before the age of forty, and one third of all children are born from unmarried couples. Now, I am not gonna talk about any morality issue here. The fact is, children whose parents are not married are likely to get less rights then they would if their parents were married. Jenő Child With The First Name Jenő is the perfect example. Was it his fault that he had no surname? Not at all! Sensible Hungarians know that it’d be best to avoid all these problems by not having any child at all.

But the sensible government seems to have recognized the problem. Starting in 1996, hospitals installed incubators where mothers could drop off their unwanted babies. And if that was not enough, since January 2006, the government will give Ft 40,000 (US$ 200) for each newborn baby. That is nice. By the time the babies reach eighteen, they can withdraw the money from the appointed bank, including the interest. Babies from poor families will even get extra Ft 42,000 when they reach 7; and another Ft 42,000 when they are 14.

As it is my task to be sarcastic, I just hope the government would not save the money in the bank which requires the customers to pay Ft 900/month (US$ 4.5) to keep their account. Such a bank really exists, you know. I kinda agree with Mr. D’Amato that the easiest step is to forbid the hálapénz first. With free antenatal care, we will see more cute little Magyars to fill our space. Hopefully.