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

Health systems in transition Hungary 3
Table 1.1
Main population/demographic indicators, 1980–2009 (selected years)
1980 1990 1995 2000 2005 2009
Population on 1 January, total (thousands) 10 709 10 375 10 337 10 222 10 098 10 031
Population on 1 January, female (% of total) 51.6 52.0 52.2 52.4 52.5 52.5
Population aged 0–14 years (% of total) 21.9 20.5 18.3 16.9 15.6 14.9
Population aged 65 years and more (% of total) 13.5 13.2 14.1 15.0 15.6 16.4
Population aged 80 years and more (% of total) 2.0 2.5 2.9 2.5 3.3 3.8
Population growth (crude rate of natural increase) 0.3 -1.9 -3.2 -3.7 -3.8 -3.4 c
Population density (people per km 2 ) a 115.1 111.5 111.0 109.9 108.5 107.8
Fertility rate, total (births per woman) 1.9 1.9 1.6 1.3 1.3 1.3
Crude birth rate (per 1 000 population) 13.9 12.1 10.8 9.6 9.7 9.6 c
Crude death rate (per 1 000 population) 13.6 14.0 14.1 13.3 13.5 13.0 c
Age dependency ratio (population aged 0–14 years and
65+ years to population aged 15–64 years)
54.8 51.0 47.9 46.8 45.5 45.4
Distribution of population (% urban) a 57.0 61.8 62.8 63.6 66.1 68.4
Single-person households (% of total) a 19.6 24.3 n/a 26.2 b 29.1 n/a
Population aged 25–64 years with at least a secondaryschool
qualification (% of total) a
Sources: European Commission, 2011; a Unpublished data from HCSO, 2011.
Notes: b Data from 2001; c Provisional value; n/a: Not available.
n/a n/a n/a 69.4 76.4 80.6
The coalition between the Hungarian Socialist Party (Magyar Szocialista
Párt) and the Alliance of Free Democrats (Szabad Demokraták Szövetsége),
which was in power between 2002 and 2008, introduced several strict austerity
measures as of 2006 to improve the budget situation, cutting government
investment and public service expenditure. The minority government formed
by the Hungarian Socialist Party between 2008 and 2010 continued along these
lines. Between 2007 and 2009, these measures and, subsequently, the global
financial crisis led to a sharp drop in economic growth, which fell from 3.2%
in 2005 to 0.8% in 2008 and subsequently to -6.7% in 2009, representing the
deepest recession in Hungary since 1989. At the same time, the unemployment
rate increased to 10% in 2009, with public debt amounting to 78.4% of GDP
(Table 1.2).
Hungary was one of the countries in the region hit hardest by the global
financial crisis, experiencing a complete freeze in the government bond market
from late 2008 to early 2009, and an average depreciation of some 30% in the
Hungarian forint (HUF) against the major currencies by March 2009 (European
Commission, 2010). The latter had a devastating effect on the thousands of
households with mortgages denominated in foreign currencies, especially Swiss
francs. In mid-2010, 23% of mortgage accounts were in arrears by more than
90 days, and 8.2% – equivalent to more than 2% of GDP – had gone into default
(HFSA, 2010).