Poverty and exclusion in Hungary have undergone significant improvement in the past decade, and the same trend is prevalent in the Eastern-Central European region as well. However, redistribution only favoured the wealthy “elite” segment of the population. All this has made Hungary into a country characterized by the most polarized inequalities, as well as the lowest social mobility in the EU. Covid-19 made these polarizations even worse.
Poverty Watch Main Findings
Most affected groups
Children
Roma population
Families with 3 children or more
Young adults in poor quality employment
The unemployed and in-work poor
Main priorities
- Introduce differentiated targeting in government aids
- Provide more resources for municipalities
- Supporting local volunteering programs
- Increase project duration times – 5-year programs are often not long enough
- Ignoring recommendations of official Country Reports in government policy making should have real consequences
- The European Union should decline funding governments which are actively creating a new periphery
- Increasing social transfers, including family allowance, minimum old age pension, which haven’t been increased in 12 years, and the employment substitution benefit, unchanged for 10 years
- Reinstating the official calculation of a subsistence minimum
- Providing the means for non-physical accessibility to people with disabilities
- Providing support to overcome disadvantages e.g. caused by sexual orientation or territorial differences
Contact details
Hungarian Anti-Poverty Network (Magyar Szegénységellenes Hálózat)
Tel: +36 305 90 20 29 / +36 30 298 88 26
E-mail: hapn (@ ) hapn.hu
Website: www.mszeh.hu
Facebook: https://facebook.com/mszeh.hapn