Hungarian Conservative

‘On average, women hold one third of managerial positions in the EU. In Hungary, the figure has been 39–40 per cent since 2010, and although it dropped a little during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are still among the top member states. ILO, the UN’s labour organization, also has a rate for senior and middle management positions in its databases, which is also above 35 per cent in Hungary.’

We have moved from our absolute fertility low in 2011, last in the EU, to sixth in 2022, with the highest growth in 2022. According to the latest Eurostat data, we moved up five places in 2022, the first year of the Russian-Ukrainian war, even though we had fewer children that year than in 2021. This fall was much smaller than in other EU countries.

In 2020 and 2021 both the number of births and the fertility rate increased in Hungary during the COVID-19 pandemic because the poverty and disadvantage of those with children relative to childless people decreased to such an extent that having children was no longer a financial disadvantage in 2019 and 2021.

GDP per capita growth has been above the EU-27 average in every year since 2010, so the Hungarian economy has grown faster than the EU average. Our decline in 2020 was also below average, and even below the large decline in 2009—despite the fact that the EU average decline in 2020 was larger than in 2009.

A sustained and substantial improvement in earnings started in 2013 in Hungary. In that year the country managed to repay its previous IMF loan, giving the government more freedom to reform and restructure the tax system, including reducing taxes on labour. The six-year minimum wage agreement launched in 2017 doubled the minimum wage for jobs requiring qualifications by 2022 and increased the overall minimum wage by 80 per cent.