Economic challenges have dramatically reshaped Hungarians’ financial strategies: due to persistent economic pressure, day-to-day survival has significantly overshadowed long-term goals – according to Provident Financial Ltd.’s latest Financial Wellbeing survey, which is conducted annually on a representative sample across nine countries.
According to the survey, more than half of the Hungarian population (51%) still has only minimal financial leeway left after covering their mandatory monthly expenses, while 28% of respondents spend their entire income, which represents a significant deterioration compared to the 21% recorded in the baseline survey conducted in 2022. Only 17% of the population can say that a moderate amount (between 20 and 50% of their monthly income) or a larger amount (exceeding 50% of their monthly income) remains in their account each month after regular expenses, according to the survey. The results of this representative survey point to a clear polarization of wealth and a widening social divide in Hungary.
In an international comparison spanning nine countries, the vulnerability of Hungarian households is striking: in Australia, only 16% of the population, in the Czech Republic, Poland, and Lithuania 13%, in Estonia and Romania 20%, in Mexico 17%, and in Latvia 24% of the population completely deplete their household budgets by the end of the month. Among the markets surveyed, Hungary has the highest proportion – 28% – of people living paycheck to paycheck.
Financial pressure is felt across most demographic groups, although some groups prove to be more resilient than others. Differences between genders and social statuses are starkly evident in this area. 32% of women struggle with having their household budget completely depleted by the end of the month – compared to 24% of men. Those with a college degree are the most resilient; only 17% of them reported having no financial surplus, while among respondents with a high school diploma or less, this figure is 32%. 23% of the working population stated that they have no money left by the end of the month.
This vulnerability is exacerbated by the fact that the majority of households currently lack a secure financial cushion: 24% have no emergency savings at all (by comparison: in Lithuania, 14%, while in the Czech Republic, only 13% have no emergency savings), and 30% have enough savings set aside to cover less than six months in the event of an unexpected loss of income. Only 36% of the population has savings sufficient to last half a year or longer.
The macroeconomic environment – high real estate prices and previous pressure on real incomes—has forced Hungarians to abandon their long-term wealth-building plans. The proportion of people saving for real estate purchases or renovations plummeted from 37% in 2022 to 23% by 2026, and the proportion of those saving for travel and vacations also declined (from 24% to 17%). The data clearly show that, rather than capital accumulation, financing immediate living expenses and maintaining short-term security have become the priority – and not by chance, as this was the only option available to a large portion of the population.
At the same time, the willingness to save presents a mixed picture: 37% of the population is able to set money aside regularly, and 27% can do so occasionally, but 28% were not able to save at all in the past 12 months.
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