Young people in Hungary are more and more willing to form families and have children, Katalin Novák, the state secretary in charge of youth and family affairs at the human resources ministry, said.

She said couples’ willingness to have children was at a 20-year high, which she said was partly down to the housing subsidy programme dubbed CSOK.

Around 60% of CSOK subsidies, or 51 billion forints, were paid out to families looking to build or purchase new homes. Half of the subsidies were granted to families planning to raise at least three children, she said, adding that a further 5,000 families had received VAT refunds on home construction worth 22 billion forints.

The government has allocated 211 billion forints towards the home purchase subsidy programme for 2017, up by 30% from last year, she said.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.