Eurostat: Hungary among the poorest EU countries again

According to Eurostat’s most recent analysis, the level of individual consumption per capita in Hungary was barely two-thirds of the EU average (69%) in 2019, which placed us in the bottom three again.

Eurostat’s recent study analysed purchasing power parities and related economic indicators, like the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, the level of actual individual consumption (AIC) per capita, and the countries’ price level indices in the European Union and a few other countries.

It turns out that Luxembourg has the highest GDP per capita among all 37 countries included in the analysis. Luxemburg’s GDP per capita is more than two and a half times above the EU average. In comparison, Bulgaria had the lowest level of GDP per capita.

Actual individual consumption (AIC)

GDP is a good indicator of the level of economic activity, but the material welfare of households can be better described by the Actual Individual Consumption (AIC).

“Actual Individual Consumption (AIC) consists of goods and services actually consumed by individuals, irrespective of whether these goods and services are purchased and paid for by households, by government, or by non-profit organisations. In international volume comparisons, AIC is often seen as a preferable measure, since it is not influenced by the fact that the organisation of certain important services consumed by households, like health and education services differs a lot across countries.”

Hungary’s AIC was barely two-thirds of the EU average (69%) in 2019. Living standards were lower only in two EU states: Bulgaria (59%) and Croatia (66%). All our neighbouring countries did better, including Romania (79%), which is often compared to Hungary.

The GDP per capita of Hungary was less than 30% below the average, and Hungary’s price levels were less than 40% below that average. In terms of the price level indices per AIC, Hungary did a little better (62.1%)

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/