The family is one of the best health-protecting factors, contributing to the preservation of physical, mental and spiritual health.

The future is written by Hungarian families, and Hungary has relied on this community of life for centuries - stated the state secretary responsible for families of the Ministry of Culture and Innovation on Thursday at the Family and Connections conference.

Ágnes Hornung stated that the government will continue to strive to remove all difficulties from those who want to live in a family.

He reminded that the Hungarian government committed itself to supporting families in 2010. A support system has been created for couples, those who want to get married, married people and those who have children, which tries to answer the problems that arise at all ages , he emphasized. Hungary is a family- and marriage-friendly country , stated the state secretary.

He emphasized that, despite the difficult economic situation affecting Europe, the government supports home building to a greater extent than ever before, and provides the largest home building program in Europe.

Explaining the details, he announced that the Csoc Plus was introduced from January 1, couples can apply for the loan with a maximum interest rate of three percent. The support, which can be used for the acquisition of the first shared home or for the extension of a residential property, can be used if the married couple has another child, but existing children can also be included in the amount of the mutual benefit.

The state secretary also drew attention to the fact that in settlements with less than five thousand people, in addition to chocolate plus, couples planning to have children can also use the village chocolate. He added: the village chocolate is provided in the form of a non-refundable subsidy.

First-married couples are still entitled to a tax discount, and the government has increased the amount of childcare from 2024, so that career and family building are not mutually exclusive, the state secretary listed .

At the conference organized on the occasion of Marriage Week, Ágnes Hornung also spoke about the growing popularity of the institution of marriage.

As he said, in 2022, the parents of 75 percent of children were married. Over the age of 30, the proportion of married people rises significantly. 43 percent of Hungarians between the ages of 30 and 34, and nearly 50 percent between the ages of 35 and 39, are married - Ágnes Hornung explained the statistical data.

Regarding divorces, he said that while in 2010 every second marriage ended in divorce, today it is only every third. This means that marriages are much more stable than in 2010 .

According to the State Secretary, marriage and family are one of the best health-protecting factors, which contribute to the preservation of physical, mental and spiritual health.

In his opening speech, András Ujváry, the co-chairman of the Három Királyfi, Három Királylány Movement, which organized the conference, drew attention to the fact that the time to get married is being postponed more and more. As he said, this phenomenon can be explained by the late psychosocial maturity of young people.

The NGO will therefore organize community organizing training for high school teachers in the future, while they want to start self-awareness groups at universities.

Ágnes Engler, the vice-president of the Three Kings, Three Kings Movement, emphasized in her greeting that according to their research, 89 percent of young people are thinking about marriage. He also said that between 2010 and 2021, the number of marriages doubled and the duration of marriages also increased. This means that fewer and fewer minor children are affected by the divorce of their parents.

MTI

Cover photo: Ágnes Hornung, the Secretary of State responsible for families at the Ministry of Culture and Innovation, gives a speech at the Family and Connections conference organized on the occasion of the Three Kings, Three Kings Movement's Marriage Week at Budapest's Corvinus University on February 15, 2024.
Source: MTI/Lajos Soós