In the summer of 2015, Budapest became, for a period of several weeks, the focal point of the refugee crisis in Europe, as tens of thousands of fugitives from the Middle East occupied Keleti railway station in the hope of boarding a train to Germany. In the months that followed, the Hungarian government of Victor Orbán adopted anti-immigrant polices that put it at odds with the EU policy preferences to share the burden of the crisis among the Member States. In leading the anti-refugee backlash within the EU, Hungary was soon joined by Poland, a country that up to this point was refugee-friendly (welcoming tens of thousands of Chechens and Ukrainians, for example). For both governments, their stand seems largely motivated by short-term domestic political considerations.  But in the long term, the influx of immigrants may become for them a necessary mean to solve acute social and economic problems stemming from demographic challenges.  Populations of both countries are rapidly aging and their fertility levels are extremely low.  Furthermore, since their accession to the EU in 2004, both have experienced massive outward migration of mostly young, educated individuals (only partially compensated by the influx of Ukrainian and Balkan guest workers) seeking employment in the West. The five papers gathered here address these issues from a comparative, multidisciplinary perspective, with analyses presented by economists, demographers, political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists, and policy analysts.