Health Systems in Transition - Hungary - World Health Organization ...

Executive summary
Introduction
Hungary is located in central Europe and has about 10 million inhabitants,
some 1.7 million of whom live in Budapest, the country’s capital.
Despite strong economic growth between 2001 and 2006, Hungary
was one of the countries in the region hit hardest by the global financial crisis,
experiencing a 6.7% contraction in GDP in 2009. Hungary is a parliamentary
democracy with a unicameral parliament and a four-year election cycle. Public
administration has three levels, consisting of the central government and two
tiers of local government: the counties and the municipalities. It has been a
Member State of the EU since May 2004.
Despite substantial increases since the mid-1990s, life expectancy at birth
in Hungary is still among the lowest in Europe, trailing the EU27 average by
5.1 years. The main causes of death are circulatory system disease, malignant
neoplasms, digestive system disease and external causes – with mortality from
each of these causes being higher than the EU27 average. Lifestyle factors
– especially the traditionally unhealthy Hungarian diet, alcohol consumption
and smoking – play a very important role in shaping the overall health of the
population. Infant mortality has decreased substantially since the 1950s but was
still 20% above the EU27 average in 2009.
Organization and governance
The Hungarian constitution guarantees the right to a healthy environment, to an
optimal level of physical and mental health, and to income maintenance benefits
in the form of social security. It assigns overall responsibility for social welfare
and health care provision to the central government, but other actors also take
part in decisions related to the organization and functioning of the health system.
In the single-payer system, recurrent expenditure on health services is funded
Executive summary