THE ONE-CHILD FAMILY

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6526, 6 February 1928, Page 11

THE ONE-CHILD FAMILY

Although Hungary’s birthrate is only surpassed by Italy in the west of Europe and Roumania in the cast, the prevalence of the ono-child ratio is being faken very seriously, and a law will probably shortly be proposed by which childless couples will forfeit part of their land to parents of large families. To 2259 families owning largo estates only 40 children have been born yearly during the last five years, and in 20,500 families owning medium-sized estates the birthrate amounts to only 1.3 per cent. The low birthrate is particularly marked in certain parts of the country, specially in Protestant districts, where the standard of living is higher than among the Catholics, and consequently the peasants’ ambition to amass wealth is greater. In the neighbourhood of the River Tisza, out of 298,000 couples of 44,000 have no children and 40,000 have one child each. It is said that in the comitat of Baranya certain villages possess no single child of school age. In a recent speech in Parliament, Count Bethlen, himself a Protestant, suggested that Protestant. clergy should inaugurate a campaign against this system.