Hungarian Households’ Financial Leeway Still Limited

According to Provident’s latest Financial Wellbeing survey, 28% of Hungarians have no money left at all by the end of the month, while in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Lithuania, this figure is 13% in each country. There is also a significant difference among the nine countries surveyed in terms of how much money the population has to work with: only 17% of Hungarian respondents said they have at least one-fifth of their monthly income left after mandatory expenses – compared to 46% of Lithuanians and 36% of Estonians.

The results of this representative survey highlight a particular tension: although official statistics indicate an improvement in the purchasing power of earnings, by international standards, Hungarian households’ financial leeway remains limited.

Provident’s latest representative Financial Wellbeing survey sharply illustrates the vulnerability of Hungarian households: among the Central and Eastern European countries surveyed, Hungary has the highest proportion (28%) of people who have no money left after covering their regular monthly expenses. In the Czech Republic, Poland, and Lithuania, this figure is just 13%, in Latvia it is 24%, and in Estonia and Romania it is 20% each. Seventeen percent of Hungarians are able to save at least one-fifth of their income, while this proportion is 28% in Romania, 29% in the Czech Republic, 32% in Latvia, 34% in Poland, 36% in Estonia, and 46% in Lithuania.

This picture is particularly noteworthy because, at the same time, income data indicate a clear improvement. One explanation for this apparent contradiction is that real wage growth measures the annual change, while households are trying to catch up with a price level that had previously risen significantly. As a result, part of the additional income is not converted into savings but is likely being used to cover housing, healthcare, consumer, or family expenses that were deferred in recent years.

It is important to emphasize that Provident’s research does not examine direct income categories, but rather the proportion of income remaining after expenses; nevertheless, the results reveal stark social disparities. In Hungary, only 3 percent of the population is able to retain more than half of their income, compared to 7% in the Czech Republic, 9% in Poland, 8% in Estonia, and 15% in Lithuania.

When examining savings, both improvement and vulnerability are evident. The proportion of people who regularly set money aside in Hungary rose to 37% in 2026, the highest figure in Hungary over the past five years. However, by international standards, this figure remains low: in the Czech Republic and Estonia, 48% of respondents save in most months, while in Poland and Lithuania, 53% do so. The Hungarian figure is close to the 35% rate in Romania and the 36% rate in Latvia.

In Hungary, only 14% of respondents are able to regularly set aside a predetermined, fixed amount. 28% of those surveyed were unable to save at all in the past year. This rate is significantly higher than the 18% in the Czech Republic, the 17% in Poland, and the 19% in Lithuania, but lower than the 31% in Romania.

42% of Hungarian men save regularly, compared to only 33% of women. Seventeen percent of men and 11% of women set aside a fixed amount as a regular practice, while occasional saving is more common among women (29% for women versus 25% for men). The proportion of those who are unable to save at all, however, is the same for both genders, at 28%.

Financial reserves also paint a highly divided picture. Twenty-four percent of Hungarians have no emergency savings at all, while another 18% would have enough money set aside to last less than three months. Among the Central and Eastern European countries surveyed, only Latvia comes close to this level in terms of the proportion of people living without savings, at 22%; the figures are 20% in Romania, 18% in Estonia, 13% in the Czech Republic, and 14% each in Poland and Lithuania.

The proportion of Hungarians with a safety net sufficient for at least half a year rose from a low of 32% in 2024 to 35.3% in 2025 and 35.7% in 2026. Despite this improvement, the indicator has not yet reached the 38% level seen in 2022. The Hungarian figure is better than Latvia’s 30% and roughly on par with Estonia’s 34% and Romania’s 35%, but it lags significantly behind Poland’s 40%, Lithuania’s 42%, and especially the Czech Republic’s 52%. The gender gap is even wider here: 46% of Hungarian men have at least six months’ worth of savings, compared to only 26% of women.