Review: Family First documentary shows why it is important to honour families

According to Maria Steen, “There’s a massive discrepancy between how many children women would like and how many they actually have.” Steen is the mother of five. She’s also an Irish barrister, writer, and commentator. Referring to an Irish study, she notes “less than 1 per cent of women wanted no children; less than 3 per cent wanted only one child. The vast majority wanted two, three, or more.”

But in Ireland, and across the globe, fewer and fewer people are having children. Birth rates are falling well below replacement levels. And economic, cultural, and psychological problems tied to falling birth rates are on the rise. So, the million-dollar question becomes: what explains the birth gap? Why aren’t people having children? And what can be done to encourage young people to become parents?

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The documentary Family First tackles these tough questions. Zsófia Fejérdy of the North Star Foundation directed the one-hour film which premiered in Budapest in November. Leading up to the documentary’s release, Fejérdy traveled all over the globe (from Japan to Ireland to the United States) to interview policy experts, commentators, economists, and people from all walks of life, and she got some incisive answers.

Unaffordable

According to Sophia, a 19-year-old student in New York City, the primary driver for delayed parenthood is economic. Without health insurance, medical bills for childbirth are prohibitively expensive.

Brynn, another 19-year-old student, comments that many young people believe that they cannot afford to have a child. “You want to raise a kid in a stable home, and you want to be financially secure before you have a kid,” she explains. But because of inflation, “it’s going to take longer for our generation to be stable enough.”

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Young people in the UK face similar financial concerns as those in the US. Miriam Cates, a wife, mother of three, and former Member of Parliament, notes that “there are genuine economic problems that are real barriers to having children.”

The UK’s individual taxation system coupled with the high cost of childcare and high housing costs make living on one income unaffordable. “There genuinely is not the choice to have children and give up some income that perhaps there was for previous generations.”

Interest

Some governments are stepping in to fix the problem and make parenthood more affordable. Hinae Niori is the director of a Japanese women’s advocacy organisation called Manma. She explains what her country is doing to support families.

Japan offers families with children home loans at favourable interest rates. Daycare is available at a steep subsidy. And families in Japan with three or more children also qualify for free university tuition.

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But these measures have not helped. Japan’s birth rate isn’t improving. Niori attributes this partly to a lack of positive messaging. “Young people are getting the feeling that raising children is extremely difficult, it isn’t cost-effective, and it is something that just takes away their time and money.”

Other governments are stepping up to the challenge with more success. Hungary is the first country in the world to holistically respond to the demographic crisis with a comprehensive pro-family agenda.

Fűrész Tünde is the president of the Maria Kopp Institute for Demography and Families. She describes some pro-family policies that are helping Hungarian families. Families with children have access to housing grants and zero interest family loans that become grants upon the birth of a third child. Mothers receive three years of paid maternity leave so that they can stay home with their little ones. Mothers with three or more children are exempt from income tax until retirement. Public transportation is free for those under 14 or over 65, so children and the elderly do not pay for public transportation. Families with three or more children can use public transportation for free.

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Family friendly

Family friendly infrastructure matters in Hungary. Lánszki Regő, Secretary of State for Architecture, describes how architects can help to make a city more family friendly.

Architects can rethink city centres, design apartments that can accommodate families, and stop the outward expansion of cities. That way families aren’t pushed away from the centre-city. Cities can incorporate playgrounds and parks so that children have somewhere safe to play. Buildings can be designed to be stroller accessible. And architects can prioritise compact city models and effective transportation systems that put families within a 15-minute radius of necessary services, like schools, workplaces, and medical resources.

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Businesses in Hungary also strive to be family friendly. Michelin Hungary, St. George Hospital, and even the Budapest Airport have received the sought-after Family-Friendly Workplace award. Terminals in the Budapest airport welcome visitors to Family Friendly Hungary, a welcome site for visitors like Valerie Huber, President and CEO of the Institute for Women’s Health. The signs are “creating a culture and sending a message” about what Hungary values: families and children.

Ballerina

In the European Union, Hungary is often criticised for its family policies. But how successful are those policies in reality? It seems that Hungary’s efforts are bearing fruit. In a poignant moment, Felméry Lili, a young ballerina at the Hungarian State Opera House (another Family-Friendly Workplace award recipient), described how some ballet dancers bring their children to dance practice. She explained, “You don't have to be afraid that your career will end just because you decide to have a child.”

That sentiment on its own is a signal success. Ballet dancing is highly competitive and few ballet dancers in the world have that kind of assurance.

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The birth rate across Europe has fallen since Covid, the war in Ukraine, and rising inflation. Hungary is no exception. In 2022 and 2023, the birth rate in Hungary fell (from 1.61 in 2021 to 1.55 in 2022 and 1.51 in 2023). Still the drop is partly explained because as Fejérdy notes, “the number of childbearing women” in Hungary is at an all-time low. Hungary remains hopeful for the future because the data doesn’t tell the whole story. Hungarian families are deciding to have more children. That’s because as Steen put it: “What you honour, you get more of. What you denigrate, you get less of.”

“Not all nations are going to survive the birth rate crisis,” datascientist and demographer Stephen Shaw remarks. Shaw directed the now world-famous 2022 documentary Birthgap, a film dedicated to exposing the impending population collapse. Surviving the population crisis will be “a question of which nations move quickly enough to find solutions.”

Proven solutions are on offer in Hungary. Hopefully concerned governments across the globe will heed those solutions because as Fejérdy remarks in closing, “a society that cares for families also cares for its own future.”