Episode Details

In this eye-opening discussion, Malcolm and Simone Collins dive deep into the controversial topic of Hungary's pro-family policies and their supposed success in boosting fertility rates. Despite claims from conservative media outlets and Hungarian officials, a closer look at the data reveals a different story. The hosts examine various sources, including national aggregators, academic studies, and local Hungarian statistics, to uncover the truth behind the numbers. They discuss the dangers of promoting false narratives, the potential for government overreach, and the importance of approaching demographic issues with evidence-based solutions rather than political agendas.

Malcolm Collins: [00:00:00] this Breitbart piece

Simone Collins: the pro family policies pursued by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government as an alternative to mass immigration are reaping dividends. with births of 9.

4 percent year on year. Much ridiculed, , policies were also accompanied by a near 100 percent increase in marriages and the number of children per woman rising to an average of 1.

6. ,

Malcolm Collins: if you look at the data actually Hungary underwent a smaller fertility bump than its neighboring countries.

Simone Collins: Oh no.

Malcolm Collins: So here I am showing a Article from the end of 2023, Daily News Hungry. Number of children born in Hungary at a historic low in 2023. Huh. Okay, that shouldn't be happening. All right let's look at another thing by this outlet.

Brutal population decline. Hungarians are dropping like flies. Oh that was published in [00:01:00] 2023. What? That's not the narrative I was reading So the Hungarian where they measure these informations is called the center of statistics office or the KSH. So I just sent you the KSH graph of the number of births in Hungary.

This bump we're seeing on the national aggregate graphs does not appear in the own country's reporting.

Would you like to know more?

Malcolm Collins: Hello, Simone! I am excited, though trepidatious, to be here with you today, because today, We are going to do what is probably going to be one of our more controversial videos, which is one that I have been actually sitting on for a long time because I haven't wanted to do it because it is a video where we are unfortunately going to have to criticize a common thread within the pronatalist movement and among people who are sympathetic to the movement's cause who are promoting information that Unless you do a very deep dive, you would not be aware is misinformation.

And [00:02:00] so I do not think that it is being promoted with any malevolent intent. It is more just, here is information that confirms my political presuppositions. Therefore, I'm not going to look at it inquisitively or skeptically. And we should add that

Simone Collins: It seems intuitive. So you wouldn't think of the face of it that it's going to be wrong.

Malcolm Collins: And so I would love it if you could start to introduce people to the mainstream pronatalist perspective on this. Read this Breitbart piece I sent you.

Simone Collins: Let me just say it begins with a picture of what I think should be our entire family's new outfit. These traditional Hungarian dresses and women apparently being splashed with water.

I just find it perfect. Anyway,

I shall read. The pro family policies pursued by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government as an alternative to mass immigration are reaping dividends. with births of 9.

4 percent year on year. Edward von Halsberg, the Central European country's ambassador to the Holy [00:03:00] See, and great grandson of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria Hungary, reported that the, quote, much ridiculed, unquote, policies were also acco