The young and the elderly

As a result of a decision adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1990, 1 October is observed as the International Day of Older Persons. European society is ageing at an increasing rate. In the European Union, 22% of the population was aged 65 and older at the beginning of 2025; in Hungary, this share was slightly lower, at 21%. On 1 January 2026, nearly 2 million people in Hungary were aged 65 and older. Their number had increased by 12% compared to 2016. Zala County had the highest proportion of older persons, at nearly 26%.

For Hungary, 2025 once again proved economically two?sided: while output in the productive sectors—industry and agriculture—continued to weaken, services strengthened across almost all areas. Household consumption gained further momentum, supported in large part by the rise in real wages. Based on the available data, employment levels appear to have stabilised at a high level despite the protracted global difficulties.

The yearbook provides an overview of Hungary's demographic, social and economic trends, environmental characteristics and their changes over time, with the help of tens of thousands of data in some 500 tables, charts and maps. Compared to previous years, it is a novelty that the results of time use data collection showing the time use of the population were included in the yearbook, furthermore, that the number of registered organisations and earnings data are also available according to the new NACE Rev. 2.1 structure, alongside the NACE Rev. 2 classification, as well as that the International data chapter is published with more extensive content, various indicators.

Nurseries Day in Hungary is celebrated on 21 April, marking the opening of the country’s first nursery in 1852. In 2025, more than 62 thousand young children were receiving daytime care in 2,990 institutions. The number of enrolled children showed steady growth over the years—apart from 2020, which was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic—and in 2025, nurseries cared for 42% more children than eight years earlier. Most young children attended traditional nurseries; however, from 2017, the number of children using mini infant nursery services grew at the fastest rate.

If the Visegrad Four (V4) would be considered as one single country, it would be the third most populous state and the fifth largest economy within the EU. Hungary registered the highest median age among the four countries, at the same time the proportion of those using the internet was on average the highest in our country. The economic activity indices of the V4 countries were more favourable than the EU average. The complete publication is available in Hungarian at: TÉR-KÉP, 2024

The performance of Hungary’s economy surpassed the previous year’s level by 0.3% in the 1st-3rd quarters of 2025. The increasing performance of the services sector and construction as well as growing consumption had a positive impact on GDP. These impacts however have been subdued by the setback of the industry and agriculture, the continuously subdued investment activity. Retail trade volume continued to rise, foreign demand at accommodation establishments increased, too.