The country that reduces taxes so that women have more than 4 children

More children, less tax. The Hungarian government has launched a birth promotion campaign in the country, which promises that women with four or more children will be exempt for life from the payment of income tax.

As announced the Hungarian President, Viktor Orban, will be a way to "defend the future of Hungary" without resorting to immigration.

The far-right leader, who opposes the arrival of immigrants – mainly Muslims – in his country, said in his report to the government that his initiative was a response to the
decline in the birth rate at

Europe

.

Orban asked whether, while for many countries in the region, the alternative to this eventuality was to allow the arrival of immigrants, the "Hungarians think otherwise".

"We do not need figures (from immigrants admitted), we need Hungarian children," he said during his speech at a demonstration against his government.

According to official figures, the population of this Eastern European country is decreasing by more than 32,000 people per year and women have fewer children than the average of the rest of the continent. This is a phenomenon to which the former republics of the Soviet Union are not foreign and several experts have already warned against the long-term consequences.

In Hungary, the population has steadily declined: from a peak of 10.7 million inhabitants reached in 1980 to less than 9.7 million today. About 600,000 Hungarians have emigrated to Western Europe in the last decade and researchers are skeptical about the number who will return.

"It is very difficult to increase the number of births because we have fewer and fewer women of childbearing age, fewer and fewer women need more and more babies," the BBC told AFP. State Secretary for Hungarian Families, Katalin Novak.

In fact, it is estimated that the number of women of childbearing age will decrease by 20% over the next decade.

What is the Orban plan?

According to the Hungarian government, the new package is based on "the number of babies couples would really like to have" and encourages them with financial support. Its goal is to increase the average number of children in each woman to 2.1 in 2030 (it is currently 1.45, below the average of 1.58 in the European Union). ).

At present, under these measures, interest-free loans in the amount of about US $ 36,000 will be offered to young couples, which will be canceled as soon as they have three children.

Other points in the government plan include:

• A commitment to create 21,000 nurseries over the next three years.
• An additional $ 2.5 million to invest in the country's health system.
• Housing subsidies.
• State support to those who buy seven-seater vehicles.

A plan that is not for everyone

Critics of the Hungarian government said that the birth package and policy targeted wealthy families and ignored the poorest Hungarians, including some 750,000 Roma (Gypsies). And it is that tax relief does little to help families who pay little tax.

Housing subsidies of about $ 40,000 are available to families who can invest a similar amount, but few Roma have these savings. In addition, the nationalist government has reduced social badistance benefits and reduced the number of months of badistance that can help people who find themselves out of work.

How do other countries help mothers?

Many other European countries with relatively low birth rates have introduced maternal benefits in the form of additional payments and other measures. Births in Russia have declined for decades: the population has fallen from 149 million in 1991 to 140 million in 2018.

Therefore, to help the poorest families, the government announced last month monthly payments between 152 and 167 US dollars until the first child reaches the age of 18 months . They also receive a one-time payment of $ 4,500 for each of the following children.

Serbia, one of Hungary's neighbors, has one of the fastest-falling populations in the world.

Last year, she announced that new mothers would receive a one-time payment of $ 956 for their first child, monthly payments of $ 96 for the second child for two years, and additional payments for three or more children.

In Italy, the birth rate is among the lowest in Europe, with Cyprus and Spain. The Italian government gives mothers a monthly allowance of US $ 90 for every child born, while the poorest families receive up to US $ 180 per child.

In Germany, more babies were born in 2016 than any other year since 1996. But the country has also put in place more incentives for couples to have children. Parents are entitled to a place in the daycare from the moment their child reaches the age of one year.

Germany has adopted a new law, the Good KiTa law, which offers parents who can not afford the full cost less expensive cover, as well as an exemption from payment for parents who receive family allowances and related benefits. to your house

In 2016, France had the highest fertility rate in the European Union (1.92 children per woman). Spain and Italy, by contrast, had the lowest rate of 1.34, according to the EU Statistics Agency, Eurostat.

Low birth rates are also a concern for governments in East Asia. The marriage rate in South Korea is at its lowest level since the beginning of the registrations (5.5 per 1,000 inhabitants, compared to 9.2 in 1970) and very few children were born out of wedlock.

According to data from the World Bank in 2016, only a few countries such as Singapore and Moldova have a fertility rate as low as that of South Korea: 1.2 per woman. The replacement rate of generations – the number needed for a population to remain at its level – is 2.1.

Nigeria, in West Africa, has the highest fertility rate in the world, at 7.24 children per woman.