Hungarians understand and take seriously the demographic challenges that, according to most of them, threaten the future of Europe, the latest representative survey conducted by the Mária Kopp Institute for Demography and Families (KINCS) found. The overwhelming majority of respondents believe that the new European Commission should pay much more attention to families, and eight out of ten agree that during Hungary’s EU presidency, which began on 1 July, the need to support families and childbearing should be highlighted at the EU level.
From 1 July 2024 Hungary is once again assuming the presidency of the Council of the European Union, focusing its political agenda on seven main themes, including addressing European demographic challenges. In this context, KINCS’s May research focused on the demographic situation, which poses increasingly alarming challenges to the EU, further undermining its competitiveness.
In the Kopp Mária Institute’s research, 69 per cent of participants were aware that Hungary would hold the EU presidency from 1 July, with the over-65s and those with higher education being the most informed. However, only 27 per cent of respondents knew that the European Union currently has 27 member states. An overwhelming majority (88 per cent) agreed that the EU should pay more attention to families. Additionally, 78 per cent of respondents agreed that during Hungary’s presidency it should be a priority to highlight the need to support families and childbearing within the EU.
The KINCS research clearly shows that Hungarians understand demographic challenges. 78 per cent of the respondents believe that the EU faces serious demographic problems that 73 per cent think threaten Europe’s future. Despite this,
Hungarians feel the EU does not care about issues such as population ageing or declining birth rates.
Two-thirds of respondents think that the EU is doing nothing to increase the birth rate, while 80 per cent believe that at the EU level, the solution to population decline is seen in immigration.
81 per cent of respondents are aware that the number of immigrants in the EU has significantly increased while birth rates have decreased. Four out of ten Hungarians believe that the birth rate and willingness to have children have increased in Hungary, while only one in six thinks the same is true for the EU as a whole.
The nationwide representative survey was conducted via telephone with a sample of 1,000 Hungarian adults between 9–21 May 2024.
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