Politics
The nebulous “they” says that children are a blessing, children are the future, and that there is no greater act of love than raising a child. As a mother of two, I can tell you that all of these clichés are true, and then some.
On top of all that lovey-dovey stuff, having kids is exhausting, stressful on the soul, and financially challenging, if not impossible, in many situations. With more opportunities for women in the workplace and a shift in the positioning of values around when and how big to have a family, the question of our collective future is perhaps teetering on the edge of non-existence.
That’s right, if we don’t start getting more kids out, the United States may be on its way to ruin with a nation populated mostly by older adults and, it seems, immigrants. However, a controversial European leader believes he has the answer to the declining population problem facing many Western and First World nations.
Get that baby fever
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban receives a fair amount of scrutiny for allegedly being too right-wing and too nationalistic. But there is no denying that Prime Minister Orban is a family man.
Under Orban’s leadership, Hungary has dedicated nearly 5% of its national GDP to increasing the country’s birth rate. Instead of establishing state welfare programs that incentivize broken families, Hungary has implemented a series of government programs intended to encourage not only motherhood but also marriage.
In Hungary, women with four or more children receive a lifetime tax exemption, and women who become mothers before turning 30 are exempt from paying personal income tax for life. Hungarian couples receive a $36,000 advance loan that will be fully repaid when they have three children.
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Couples who marry before the bride’s 41st birthday receive a $33,000 loan. These are game-changing dollar amounts for any individual, let alone family.
So, what made Hungary desperate for its population to increase their reproductive activities?
Global crisis
The world as a whole is reproducing at a slower rate than previous generations, and many countries are facing possible cultural extinction. In the United States, the birth rate steadily declined by nearly 23% from 2007 to 2022.
The typical American woman gives birth to 1.6 children, down from the 1950s average of 3 children per typical American woman. Given that the “replacement rate” is 2.1 children per woman, this will result in second- and third-order effect problems.
The declining birth rate in the United States and around the world is poised to cause significant problems for the aging population. Without a sufficient “replacement” generation to enter the workforce when the older generation retires, a labor shortage, like the one Hungary and many other European nations are facing, is imminent.
Considering the labor shortage, it is easy to see the following problem for governments and the older generation: fewer workers to fund government programs aimed at caring for the elderly. What kind of repercussions might this have for us in middle age?
Perhaps raising the retirement age, raising taxes, or some government programs are no longer sustainable for when our children are in their twilight years. It’s not just Hungary that is seriously considering encouraging motherhood.
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France, Italy, Sweden, Norway and Denmark are trying similar measures to encourage a more loving population to support their… well… population. Prime Minister Orban warns that what the United States and other Western nations are doing to try to curb labor shortages and population declines is the wrong way to go, stating in 2019:
“For the West, the answer is immigration. For every missing child there should be one arriving and then the numbers will be fine. But we don’t need numbers. We need Hungarian children.”
Has the time come to seriously consider the decline in the American birth rate as a real existential crisis? Do we need more American children?
Do it for your country
Prolific procreator Elon Musk has been vocal about the world’s need for more children for years, warning that the collapse in population numbers could be on par with artificial intelligence when it comes to the end of civilization as we know it.
He once famously stated:
“A collapsing birth rate is by far the greatest danger civilization faces.”
The electric car manufacturer even went so far as to write:
“Population collapse due to low birth rates represents a much greater risk to civilization than global warming.”
With 11 children, it’s clear that Elon is undoubtedly taking this crisis seriously. Maybe it won’t be his hip Teslas or his quest to make humanity interplanetary, but his drive to populate the next generation that will save the planet.
At a recent political event in Rome, Elon Musk said:
“My advice to all government leaders and people is: make sure you have children to create a new generation.”
He went on to say that “demographics matter,” adding that at current low birth rates:
“…the culture of Italy, Japan and France will disappear.”
Holy blue! Jokes aside, the idea that the very cultures that helped shape civilization as we know it could disappear is depressing.
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The question we should ask is why, in the United States, the left wing of the political elite wants to discourage mothers from having children and starting a nuclear family, while encouraging an endless flow of illegal immigrants across the southern border. If I didn’t have to pay taxes for the rest of my life and I had two more kids… I’d think about it.
