I have seen the latest news articles, according to which the declining numbers of Hungarians within the country is “shocking” and “brutal”. I am of course referring to the recent data that there are now 9.6 million people living in Hungary, which compared to the 2011 numbers, means there are 300,000 fewer. This status leads some to ultimate despair while others to sober optimism. I do not deny that we side with the latter.
It has been commonly known that the population loss afflicting Europe for decades is a serious problem in our country as well. Along with the fact that although fertility rates have slightly increased, they are still far from the ideal goal. An important aspect to consider is that many of the workers who left the country in the past 11 years could return, just as many Hungarians who went to England and Germany already have.
Moreover, many children born in mixed marriages – for example with a British father and Hungarian mother – eventually decide to choose Hungary as their home and their descendants eventually become Hungarian rather than Westerners. Not to mention the Hungarians of the Carpathian Basin from outside our current border who are continually arriving, though in dwindling numbers.
The true question is: have we reached the numerical and psychological limits of national advocacy, a point where there is no return, no hope, no progress? Not at all – it is a big problem, but not nearly as bad as in surrounding countries.
The former 22 million of Romania has decreased by four million (I say this, despite the obviously misleading recent census) – and a significant portion of them are not all Romanians, but Hungarians, Roma, Serbs and other minority nationalities. Moreover, with the strengthening of local interests in Romania, regionalism may flare up.
Serbia and Croatia are emptying out at rates that are a thousand times worse than in Hungary. It is also not inconceivable to say that by the second half of this century, Slovakia will only have three million residents. Part of this again is not necessarily majority Slovak, but also Roma and Hungarian; thus, it will be rather difficult to practice the framework of the nation-state as Mečiar believed at the time.
At the same time, when the demographic crisis affecting our region will issue its most grave warnings to the politicians of the future, it may be that Hungarians will be fewer, but growing economically and intellectually.
And that country will play a pivotal role in the new conditions, just as it has so many times throughout history when the West declared us dead, but ended up shocked to find out we were very much alive, moving, and taking action. We have been buried a thousand times, but the Hungarian language, culture, national politics, Christianity, rural life, and civility prevail. We have everything we need, and though it could be better, it is an impressive result that after another XX. killer century, we are still here.
In fact, it is all up to us what kind of future we prepare ourselves for. Do we want to see our own faces in that future mirror, or will we allow vagrant barbers to disfigure our image?
Yes, 300,000 Hungarians disappeared. But we still have 9.6 million here at home and many, many more beyond the borders, throughout the world. Our trust should not be in the numbers as much as in the surging vitality, which must never be weakened or hindered. Let us side with life: have families, children, go to work, be amongst people, and believe steadfastly in life itself, because then we will defeat death again and again.
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