OECD: Hungary Needs to Improve its Healthcare System

Hungary spends EUR 1,925 per capita on healthcare each year, roughly half the European Union average, according to a recent OECD country report. Although the proportion of public funding has increased, patients still pay significant amounts out of their own pockets, while poor health indicators, high mortality and risk factors remain above the EU average.

Although public funding has gradually increased in recent years, accounting for 74% of healthcare spending in 2023, about one-third of patients pay for pharmacy and other healthcare expenses out of their own pockets, which is significantly higher than the EU average of 16%.

Hungary spends 6.4% of its GDP on healthcare, compared to the EU average of 10%. As in other EU countries, after the exceptionally high expenditures during the COVID-19 pandemic, spending returned to normal in 2023, falling by an average of 4.3% per year in real terms between 2021 and 2023.

In 2023, Hungary spent EUR 1,925 per capita (calculated at purchasing power parity), which is roughly half the EU average of EUR 3,832.

After a temporary decline due to the pandemic, average life expectancy in 2024 was 77 years, which is 4.7 years lower than the EU average. There is also a significant difference between the sexes, with women living on average 6.3 years longer than men, the OECD pointed out.

Typically, diseases of the circulatory system and cancer were responsible for more than 70% of deaths in 2023. According to the OECD's country profile on cancer, published last February, the mortality rate of cancer patients in Hungary was 32% higher than the EU average, as we wrote about in more detail here.

In its latest report, the organization mentions among the risk factors that Hungary has one of the highest rates of adult smokers and alcohol consumers in the EU, and it is also apparent that the number of smokers has declined more slowly over the past two decades than in other EU countries. One in four Hungarian adults smokes daily, which is one of the highest rates in the EU. There is also a significant gender difference: nearly one-third of men smoke daily, compared to one-fifth of women.