One of Policy Solutions' main objectives is to use its research to contribute to a deeper understanding of the Hungarian society, and to thus help ensure that Hungary's development is based on policies that reflect and address the most important concerns of the Hungarians. In line with this mission, we regularly explore the issues that shape the views of Hungarians when it comes to their personal situation, the current situation and long-term prospects of Hungary, and the key challenges facing the world. The present study builds on and expands this tradition, at a time of serious external and internal uncertainties.
In this publication, we present the fears and hopes that characterise Hungarian society in 2024. The results of our survey provide us with a picture of how the financial situation of Hungarians has changed over time, while at the same time, it also shows what the Hungarian public is most concerned about in terms of their country's problems and what they consider to be the most important global threats. As well as outlining Hungary's current problems, we also sought to get a sense of what Hungarians think their country needs in order to become a better place in the future. We present the public's expectations of Hungarian politicians and local governments, and we also look at the opinions of Hungarian society about some of the important issues that have recently come to the fore (battery factories, migrant workers, LGBTQ issues, the possibility of hosting the Olympics in Budapest). Our previous research also allows us to track changes over time on a number of issues.
Key findings:
- Hungary's key challenges for 2024: low wages, high prices, and quality of health care take centre stage.
- Fidesz voters are most worried about cost-of-living problems, Tisza Party supporters are most worried about corruption.
- Opposition voters see their financial situation worsening, Fidesz voters report stagnation. Why do Hungarians not consume? Because of prices, salaries, and housing difficulties.
- Economic outlook: the vast majority of Hungarian society expects the cost-of-living crisis to continue in 2025.
- Hungarians blame the government, rather than the Russia-Ukraine war or the EU, for the prolonged economic difficulties.
- What will it take to make Hungary a better place? Higher salaries and pensions, quality health care, less corruption.
- Two-thirds of Hungarians oppose the construction of battery factories and, in this context, they are mainly concerned about pollution. Hungarians now see battery factories as a more important problem than Russian influence or LGBTQ issues
- Opposition voters are even more against welcoming guest workers than Fidesz supporters. On the issue of guest workers, Fidesz may be subject to somewhat of a backlash triggered by its own previous anti-migration campaigns.
- When it comes to hosting the Olympics, Hungary is divided.
- Rights of the LGBTQ community: The majority would support same-sex marriage but not adoption.
- Global threats according to Hungarians: fear of new epidemics is still the most pervasive, but climate change now ranks second, while the fear of war has decreased.
Authors: András Bíró-Nagy - Tamás Csontos - Kristóf Molnár - Attila Varga
The study was realised with the support of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Budapest.
Policy Solutions is a progressive political research institute based in Budapest. It was founded in 2008 and it is committed to the values of liberal democracy, solidarity, equal opportunity, sustainability and European integration. The focus of Policy Solutions’ work is on understanding political processes in Hungary and the European Union. Among the pre-eminent areas of our research are the investigation of how the quality of democracy evolves, the analysis of factors driving euroscepticism, populism and the far-right, and election research.
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