Last update: 31 May 2019

This survey is carried out in compliance with Regulation (EC) No 184/2005/EK, Regulation (EU) No 555/2012/EU and Regulation (EC) No 707/2009/EK (on Community statistics concerning balance of payments, international trade in services and foreign direct investment).


Data sources:

Travel: questionnaire No. 1943 on expenditures of foreigners visiting Hungary and questionnaire No. 2007 on Residents travelling abroad.

Transportation, business, repair and government services: quarterly survey of enterprises, budgetary units and non-profit organisations by questionnaire No. 1470.

Manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others: questionnaire on external trade in goods.

Missing information was imputed by using administrative data sources.


International trade in services is defined as all transactions based on a private contract, in which a resident of an economy provides services to (exports), or acquires services from a non-resident (imports).

Valuation: Transactions are valued at the actual price agreed by the supplier and the consumer, without VAT. The conversion of values into HUF is based on the official medium exchange rate of the National Bank of Hungary valid at the time at which the transaction occurs.

Date or period of delivery of services: the actual date or period of service transactions between residents and non-residents, namely the date or period when the service was supplied or acquired. This may differ from the time when the payment is made or received.


Services are observed and published by the following groupings of activities and partner countries:


Travel: expenditures of foreigners in Hungary; expenditures of Hungarian tourists abroad. (In line with international requirements, travel data in the publication titled “International trade in services” exclude the items of revenues from and expenditures on international transport, and insurances, which, however, are included in the data of the publication titled “International trips”, contrarily, they include items related to illegal services.)


Transportation services by mode of transport::

Sea transport: sea transport, passenger; sea transport, freight; sea transport, other.

Air transport: air transport, passenger; air transport, freight; air transport, other.

Rail transport: rail transport, passenger; rail transport, freight; rail transport, other.

Road transport: road transport, passenger; road transport, freight; road transport, other.

Inland waterway transport: inland waterway transport, passenger; inland waterway transport, freight; inland waterway transport, other.

Pipeline transport and electricity transmission.

Other supporting and auxiliary transport services (forwarding, warehousing).

Postal and courier services.


Business services by the following groups:

Telecommunications services.

Construction services: construction abroad and in the compiling economy.

Insurance services: life insurance; pension funding; standardised guarantee services; freight insurance; other direct insurance; passive reinsurance (imports) = balance of all flows (gross premiums payable minus gross claims and other premium incomes and change in outstanding claims reserves); active reinsurance (exports) = balance of all flows (gross premiums minus gross claims and other premium incomes payable and change in outstanding claims reserves); insurance services, auxiliary services.

Financial services: financial services, FISIM (Financial Intermediation Services Indirectly Measured).

Computer and information services: computer services; purchase and sale of originals and proprietary rights of computer software and applications; news agency services; database services, on-line publishing.

Charges for the use of intellectual property.

Other business services: other trade-related services (agents’ fees); operational leasing services; legal services; accounting, auditing, book-keeping and tax consulting services; business and management consulting and public relations services; advertising, market research and public opinion polling; waste treatment and depollution; agricultural and mining services; research and development services; architectural services; engineering services; scientific and other technical services; other business, professional and technical services (n.i.e.).

Personal, cultural and recreational services: audiovisual and related services; purchase and sale of proprietary rights related to audiovisual products; education services; health serŹvices; other personal services; cultural heritage and recreational services.


Government services: embassies and consulates; military units and agencies; other government services (n.i.e.).

Partner country: : in travel the country where the traveller arrives from, or the country of destination in case of Hungarians travelling abroad. In transportation services the country of the invoice payer in exports and that of the invoice issuer in imports. In case of business services the country in which the non-resident trading partner is domiciled.


Content of different groups of countries.* EU-15: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom; new EU members: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia; EU-28: the two previous groups together.

Non-EU European countries: EFTA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) and Albania, Andorra, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine, Vatican, and in addition to that European off-shore centres connected to the United Kingdom.

Other countries: countries of Africa, Australia and Oceania, and other units (e.g. certain international organisations).