Fewer and Fewer Hungarians Can Save Money

A quarter of Hungarians have no money left at the end of the month, and a quarter of the population are unable to save throughout the year. The financial situation of the Hungarian population has deteriorated slightly over the past year, according to a representative survey of 500 people by age, gender and region conducted by Kantar in May 2023 for the International Personal Finance (IPF), the parent company of Provident Pénzügyi Plc.

While 78% of Hungarians were able to save some money, in the latest survey, 27.4% of Hungarians said they had not saved at all during the year. This is likely to reflect the rise in income inequalities, as the proportion of those who managed to save a substantial amount increased compared to previous surveys. 19.7% of respondents fall into this category, of which 2.7% have a large amount (more than 50% of monthly income) and 17.1% have a sufficient amount (between 20% and 50% of monthly income) left in their account at the end of the month. In previous surveys, the share of respondents with such substantial savings was only around 10% (2020) and then 17% (2021),.

According to a Provident statement, it is hardly surprising how closely the financial confidence of some members of the population is linked to their income situation. Half of respondents, 50.1% to be precise, say they are financially literate. Interestingly, there is also a significant gender gap, with 62.2% of men and 38.8% of women. One might wonder what is causing this large discrepancy, whether it is such a difference in economic interest or knowledge, or whether it is simply that men "suffer less from a lack of self-esteem."

The most significant correlation is probably that those who can save a set amount of money most months are 76.6% confident, while those who have not saved anything in the past year are only 34.2% confident.

The survey also showed that only 35.5% of respondents have enough savings for at least six months. Here again, a cross-correlation can be observed, with 69.4% of those who had more than six months' worth of income left at the end of the month having six months' worth of savings, compared to only 7.6% of those who had nothing. 24.2% of Hungarians have no savings at all.