EU–SILC official statistical background
Figures and international comparison
The revision of data on poverty conducted by the HCSO concluded in the fall on 2025, being coordinated with the Statistical Office of the European Union, Eurostat. Revision is a standard procedure of the statistical data production process, not only in Hungary but internationally, too. Living conditions significantly improved in Hungary between 2010 and 2024. . The pre-planned revision did not change in merit the main poverty indices, neither in its level nor its trend. The decreasing dynamics of the main poverty indicator surpassed notably the EU average in Hungary since 2010, and its level is also more favourable since 2017 than the EU average.
The poverty situation in Hungary significantly improved between 2010 and 2024
The focus of EU-SILC survey is on the study of the trends of poverty or social exclusion.
The indicator of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion is composed of three factors, each measuring different phenomena, their trends may develop in different directions, as such, none of then alone is suitable for assessing overall poverty. People affected by at least one of the three dimensions are considered to be poor.
- at risk of poverty (proportion of those whose income does not reach 60% of the national median income. it must be stressed that the indicator does not measure absolute poverty, rather it reflects income inequalities).
- severe material and social deprivation (proportion of those who cannot afford at least 7 elements out of the 13 basic needs).
- very low work intensity (proportion of those living in households where the adult members spend less than 20% of their potential working time with work).
Poverty is measured using uniform methodology in the member states of the European Union, and data reliability is guaranteed by the professional supervision of Eurostat.
The number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion decreased by nearly 40% or 1 million 274 thousand between 2010 and 2024 in Hungary.
The long-term improvement of the main indicator was primarily due to the major decrease in severe material deprivation: 23.4% of the population was severely deprived in 2010, this proportion fell to 8.5% by 2024.
The at-risk-of- poverty rate has stabilized at around 14% in the last 15 years.
Due to the steadily favorable labour market trends the number of those living in households with very low work intensity decreased to one-third, from 12.8% to 4.1%.
The living conditions of vulnerable social groups improved significantly as well between 2010 and 2024.
The number of people affected simultaneously by all three dimensions of poverty, the most endangered group, decreased significantly between 2010 and 2024.
The number of children less than aged 18, living in households at risk of poverty or social exclusion decreased by almost half, from 704 thousand to 376 thousand between 2010 and 2024, primarily due to the improvement of the family support system.
A significant closing up occurred between 2010 and 2024 among the most vulnerable family types: the proportion of single-parent households at risk of poverty decreased to two-thirds, and that of large families fell to close to a half.
The pre-planned revision did not change in merit the main poverty indicator, neither on national level, nor regarding its trend
The revision was pre-planned, carried out due to the re-weighting based on the 2022 new survey’s population data
The decision regarding the revision took place in a planned manner, based on professional considerations, researchers have been notified about it as early as 2023 by the HCSO; it did not occur due to newspaper articles.
The excessive obstruction of income distribution, inconsistencies between net and gross income, as well as the outstanding poverty gap ceased as a result of the revision. Eurostat validated and accepted the revised data as well as the corresponding methodological documentation.
The revised microdata-files are available since 29 September 2025 at the Safe Centre of the HCSO.
The change in proportion of those at risk of poverty or social exclusion remained within the sampling margin of error in each revised year.
The value of complex poverty indicator in Hungary fluctuated between -0.9 and +1.1 percentage points at the national level, within a sampling margin of error of ±1,0 and ±1,4.
The trend of poverty indicators did not change.
Only the relative income poverty indicator changed in merit out of the components of the complex indicator.
Certain groups of the population have been slightly redistributed in regard to their risk of poverty.
The proportion of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion somewhat increased among the population under 18 years of age, at the same time, during the 6 years examined, the number of children living in poor households decreased by 82 thousand instead of the previously estimated 52 thousand.
The proportion of those at risk of poverty among the population aged 65 and over changed favorably both in its level and in its trend.
The realignment is underpinned by fine-tuning of income distributions; as a consequence, the relative income position of the groups concerned changed, while their absolute poverty status did not.
Since 2010 the decreasing dynamics of the main poverty indicator has significantly exceeded the EU average and from 2017 onwards, its level has been more favourable than the EU average
Based on the most recent comparable data the main poverty indicator of Hungary is on the 13th place in the EU ranking.
In 2023 the proportion of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in Hungary was 1.7 percent lower than the EU average.
Relative income status and work intensity is more favorable in Hungary than the EU average, at the same time the proportion of people affected by severe material and social deprivation is slightly above it.
In Hungary 22.9% of children lived in households at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2023, this is slightly lower than the EU average.
Hungary’s position within the EU has improved significantly since 2010.
While 5 countries had higher numbers of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2010, according to the most recent comparable data (2023) 14 countries show worse indices than Hungary.
The improvement going on since 2010 in regard to severe material and social deprivation is the third highest decrease in the EU.
The decrease in the proportion of children living in poor households, ongoing since 2010, is the second largest in the EU.
Revision is an internationally recognized procedure, serves data accuracy improvement and it is an integral part of the Eurostat framework.
Eurostat constantly supports ongoing data accuracy and reliability improvement through methodological recommendations and revision suggestions.
Revision and methodological review is an implicit part of statistical data processing, and is causing time series break: the revision of the main indicator had similar impact in every country, and further time series breaks show up in the time series of 14 countries.
Eurostat verifies the activity of the HCSO in the case of the EU–SILC survey on a yearly basis, in general terms peer-reviews it multi-annually, data are validated and published.