The president told the students that she wanted to meet members of a generation that could “make a difference in the world”.

The West, she said, was experiencing a “demographic ice age” and not a single European country had a replacement rate for keeping population numbers steady.

The president outlined Hungarian government family policy measures that encourage childbearing, noting that the number of marriages has doubled in the past decade, while the number of failed pregnancies had halved. She said it was not worth sacrificing family life and childbearing for the sake of a career.

Meanwhile, asked about the war in Ukraine, Novák said Hungary, as a neighbour of the country, prized peace above all else, and countries far removed from the conflict did not properly understand the situation. Novák noted that Hungarian citizens of Ukraine had also lost their lives in the war.

She said the US would inevitably become involved in the peace process and assume a primary role. With a US president “on the side of peace”, the chance of peace in Ukraine was far higher, she added.

On the topic of religion, Novák said Hungary would never abandon its Christianity of one thousand years. Tolerance, she added, was an important value but “we cannot be tolerant by denying our identity”.

The president also held talks with Spencer Cox, the Republican governor of the state of Utah, in the state legislature.

Cox praised Hungary’s pro-family approach which the state of Utah, he said, shared in many respects, with faith playing a role. He said his state runs a family affairs office whose job is to protect families and encourage childbearing.