After 2015 and 2017, the Budapest Demographic Summit (5th and 6th September, Budapest) will beheld for the third time as a prestigious international forum that gives an opportunity for political actors, decision-makers, church and civilian leaders and representatives of the scientific community to share their ideas and experiences with each other.

Demographic processes fundamentally determine our future. Overpopulation and the threat of the disappearance of shrinking and aging nations create challenges for our communities; therefore demographic issues need to be discussed openly.

At the turn of the 20th and 21th centuries we face an unprecedented phenomenon: certain nations seem to have renounced their future. Not enough children are born, cradles are empty. In other parts of the world demographic growth takes place: several nations double or even multiply their population in just a few decades. There are those, who see an opportunity in these parallel processes and would channel the demographic surplus of the thriving nations to countries with shrinking population. However, there are those – among them Hungary – who say that they are capable of changing these trends and bringing an end to population decline relying on their own resources. This is a difficult challenge that requires strong families and an effective family policy.

We announced a family friendly turn in Hungary in 2010 and nowadays more and more countries think alike. However, similar values and family-focused attitudes do not mean uniformity: different countries have developed diverse solutions and good practices. A high-level conference such as the Budapest Demographic Summit provides an excellent opportunity for the stakeholders involved to think together and learn from each other.

The unique “Hungarian model” means a value driven and family-centred policy. Among others, we have included the protection of family, marriage and childbearing in the Constitution of Hungary, we have doubled the state budget for families in ten years and we have established an objective to stop the population decline not by mass immigration but by strengthening the Hungarian families.

Thanks to its success, our model has attracted more and more attention from our foreign partners and we are eager to share our experiences and to learn from others as well.

In the Budapest Demographic Summit, along with the Prime Minister of Hungary, several heads of state, church leaders, decision-makers, experts, economic actors, representatives of the media and non-governmental organizations give lectures, share their thoughts about the role of family in managing demographic processes, the impact of family and population policies on competitiveness, sustainability and developing future strategies.

We live in a changing and altering time, when decisions need to be made on how we imagine the new way of coexistence that determines our future. Families, the cornerstones of society are strengthened and thus the current unfavourable demographic processes become manageable or individual interests overcome community aspects endangering the future of nations, peoples and families. The stakes are high, common thinking and cooperation is the way forward for which the Budapest Demographic Summit provides an outstanding space.”

All the information about this important event can be found on https://bdselsoacsalad.hu/en