5. LIVING CONDITIONS

Content: living conditions, well-being, poverty, household incomes, household consumption.

Reference population: private households in Hungary and individuals living in private households.

Concepts:

Household: consists of persons who – irrespective of kinship – form a common income and consumption unit sharing completely or partly the current costs of their living.

Income: Self-reported income of households, recorded at both the individual and household level.

Main categories:

• Labour income (employee income, income from self-employment)
• Social income (family benefits related to child-rearing, pensions and pension-like benefits, unemployment benefits, other allowances and transfers)
• Other income (income from property, transfers between households)

Per capita income: Total income divided by the total population.

Income deciles: deciles of the population ranked according to the annual net income per capita. From 2024 onwards, income deciles based on the equivalised income of the population.

Income quintiles: Fifths of the population ranked by annual per capita net income. From 2024 onwards, fifths of the population ranked by equivalised income.

Reference person: the person with the highest income among the members of the household.

At-risk-of-poverty threshold: The threshold is set at 60% of the national median equivalised disposable income.

At-risk-of-poverty rate: The share of persons with an equivalised disposable income below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, which is set at 60 % of the national median equivalised disposable income (after social transfers).

Poverty gap: The extent to which the median income of those living below the poverty threshold falls short of the national poverty threshold, expressed as a percentage of the threshold.

Median equivalised income:

1. Calculation of equivalised income:
• The total disposable income of the household is divided by an equivalence scale, which takes into account the size and composition of the household (e.g. adults, children).
• In the EU, the OECD-modified (OECD2) equivalence scale is used:
  – first adult = 1,
  – each additional adult = 0,5,
  – each child (<14 years) = 0,3.
2. Determination of the median:
• Equivalised incomes calculated for the total population are ranked in ascending order.
• The median equivalised income is the middle value, where half of the population has less and half has more.

This indicator serves as the basis for defining the poverty threshold (usually 60% of the median equivalised income.

Severe material and social deprivation: Severe material and social deprivation refers to persons who experience at least seven of the thirteen problems listed below: they cannot afford.

Methodology of data production

• Data Sources
  
  • Data collection is carried out based on Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council, as well as the associated Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/258, which establish the common framework for European statistics on persons and households.
  • Before 2021, the EU-SILC survey (formerly HKÉF) and the HKF consumption survey were conducted on a common sample.
  • The SILC survey is a sample survey in which addresses and the households living at those addresses are selected. The SILC sample is a multi-stage, stratified probability sample. In larger, so-called self-representing municipalities, the primary sampling units are dwellings/addresses. In smaller municipalities, however, the first stage of sampling is the selection of the municipality itself. Since 2021, the number of designated addresses in the sample has been around 16,000 per year. The data collection is carried out in the first half of the year following the reference year. Participation in the survey is voluntary.
  • The design of data processing procedures primarily aims to optimize the production of the main composite indicator, the AROPE measure.

The implementation data of the EU-SILC survey for the reference years 2015–2024

• Data Processing
1. Initial Data Checks
   • Incoming data are checked according to pre-defined criteria
2. 2Verification of Income Classification
   • Employment income
   • Social transfers
   • Other income
3. Logical and Content Consistency Checks
   • Demographic consistency
   • Consistency between employment status and income
   • Consistency between transfer income and eligibility status
4. Correction and Imputation of Income Data
   • Identification and treatment of extreme values
   • Imputation of employment income
     – Missing and erroneous data are corrected using direct linkage of individual-level earnings data from administrative sources (NAV contribution reports, MÁK) based on natural identifiers (name, date of birth, address).
     – Where administrative linkage is unavailable, remaining gaps are imputed using average earnings by 4-digit FEOR’08 occupational groups.
   • Imputation of old-age pensions
     – Administrative linkage: In 2024, we applied direct individual-level linkage to administrative pension data (MÁK) using natural identifiers (name, date of birth, address) for the first time.
     – For missing links or for years prior to 2024, stratified averages by demographic characteristics (gender, age groups, counties) were used.
5. Derivation of Eurostat-defined Variable
6. Weighting
   The SILC sample and its rotation groups are calibrated to two sets of benchmark totals: Demographic block: Regional totals of women and men by age groups (0–14, 15–29, 30–59, 60+) – 8 × 8 benchmarks. Economic activity/education block: Stratified by three settlement types (Budapest, county-level city, other settlements), including counts of employees, self-employed, childcare recipients, pensioners, unemployed, children under 7, and students, as well as employed persons by three educational attainment categories. Household counts are also included (total households, single-person households, households with 0, 1, 2, or ≥3 children). Combined with "others", this results in 3 × 17 benchmarks.
7. Quality Checks and Macrovalidation
   • Internal consistency of income data
   • Reconciliation with macro-level aggregates
   • Verification of summed income totals
8. Production of Eurostat-defined Files
9. Eurostat Validation Process
10. Generation of Output Data Tables
    Absolute numbers are electronically rounded without individual adjustment, so totals of partial data may not exactly match the rounded overall totals.

Timeliness and Revision

• Data for the reference year are published as preliminary data in October of the year following the reference year.
• Final data are published in the first quarter of the second year after the reference year, following Eurostat validation (routine revision). The preliminary nature of the data is indicated in the data publications.
• Comprehensive major revisions, covering multiple years, typically occur every ten years after a census (see section on temporal comparability).

Temporal Comparability

• In September 2025, the EU-SILC data files were revised for reference years 2018–2023. The primary aim of the revision was the reweighting of datasets using benchmark figures derived from the 2022 census. Methodological improvements were also implemented, particularly in the grossing/netting, imputation, and correction of income data. These enhancements mainly targeted:
  • Eliminating previous clustering in income distributions
  • Reducing excessive volatility in the poverty gap, and
  • Resolving earlier inconsistencies between gross and net incomes
  • As a result, the accuracy of poverty-related indicators and internal consistency of the data improved significantly. Data for 2018 and earlier reference years are only partially comparable with data published from 2019 onward.
• From reference year 2018, net income is published in Stadat tables for income breakdowns
• Methodological changes in the 2021 income reference year (survey conducted in 2022):
  • The detailed household consumption diary survey (HKF) was discontinued. Consumption data are now aggregated at the COICOP main group level, sourced from the Household Living Conditions Survey. Data for 2021 were collected retrospectively in January 2022.
  • With the introduction of the EU2030 targets, the Social Protection Committee of the EU approved changes in the calculation of some components of the AROPE indicator (at risk of poverty or social exclusion). Specifically:
    • Material deprivation and very low work intensity indicators were revised, while the income poverty rate remained unchanged.
    • The material and social deprivation indicator now includes 13 items instead of 7, and the age threshold for the work intensity indicator was raised from 59 to 64 years.
    • Poverty indicators in tables are presented according to the new methodology, recalculated back to 2015.
• Overcrowding indicator calculation:
  • From 2018 onward, the Household Budget and Living Conditions Survey switched from the previous Hungarian room-count method to the EU-SILC dwelling room definition. Under this methodology, kitchens over 4 m² that are used for dining are counted as living rooms.
  • From 2018 onward, this dwelling definition is used for calculating overcrowding indicators. Data prior to 2018 are not comparable.
• Historical data basis:
  • 2006–2017 data are based on the 2011 census,
  • 1998–2005 data on the 2001 census,
  • 1992–1997 data on the 1990 census.
  • Due to new benchmark systems, breaks in the time series occur in 2018, 2006, and 1998.

More information is available from the Meta database:

• Level and structure of consumption
• Income, poverty
• Type of household, family composition, living conditions – Population and Housing Population and Housing Census