Hungary

The high value that Hungarians put on marriage showed in the marriage data until 1989 (when the political system changed); until then, the proportion of people who had not married by the age of fifty remained below 5 percent. At the same time, the gradual decrease in the number of marriages began in the early 1980s (Tóth 1999). In the 1970s there were 9.2 marriages per 1,000 inhabitants, a figure that had dropped to only 4.5 by 1999. Demographics explain the higher rate of marriage in the 1970s; by this time the many people born in the 1950s reached the age of marriage. Young people in large numbers were encouraged to marry early because of their financial interests, the dominant ideology, and the norms of their families.

From the beginning of the 1980s, however, the marriage trend reversed, and the number of marriages started to decrease. As a result, fewer marriages have taken place since 1980—that is, every year more marriages ended than began. Many factors acting together explain this trend and the low rate of marriages. Of these, first is the change in the timing of marriage. In 1975 men first married, on average, at the age of 23.4, while women did so at the age of 21.3. In this time 40 percent of the women married before reaching their twentieth year. By 1999 the mean age at first marriage was 26.8 for men and 24.2 for women. That women are marrying later is connected to the rise of their educational level. In the middle of the 1990s, more women than men were enrolled in secondary and postsecondary education. Education improves women's chances in the labor market, increases their choices, and even makes it possible for them eventually not to accept the traditional form of marriage.

During the 1990s, the number of those remarrying also decreased in Hungary. In the 1970s there were 129 marriages per 1,000 divorced men; by 1999 this ratio had dropped to 27.4. The number of marriages per 1,000 divorced women decreased from 115 in the 1970s to 18.6 by 1999. This means, first, that men and women have more equal chances for remarrying. Second, those divorced show much less willingness to remarry, compared to several decades earlier.

The decline of marriage as a preferred partner relationship can also be related to economic factors. First, those that have benefited most from the 1989 political changes may choose to remain unmarried. In its lifestyle, this group resembles the young middle class in Western countries; members of this group earn good incomes. The delay or eventual failure to marry at all has another economic cause at the other end of society: those who are poor and getting poorer. Unemployment burdens those beginning their careers at a much higher rate than the average; thus, because these young people lack an income, the founding of a family is uncertain.