Hungarian household consumption was 68% of the EU average last year, slightly lower than the previous year (68.3%). Quoted Portfolio.hu uses Eurostat data. With the index in Bulgaria rising significantly, reaching 67.9 percent, the difference narrowed to a tenth of one percentage point.
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The relative decline in Hungarian households' consumption was not surprising, as their final consumption fell by 1.2% in real terms last year. It is also known that there was a significant increase in consumption in Bulgaria last year. So it is not surprising that Hungary comes in almost last place. Luxembourg is at the top of the European Union rankings. Household consumption in Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark still exceeds 120 percent of the EU average. At the other end of the list, the Bulgarian-Hungarian duo are ahead of Slovakia and Latvia by almost ten percentage points.
The main reason behind the weak household consumption last year was lower real income and lower consumption. Uncertainty about their future prompted the Hungarians to do the latter. Compared to other countries in the region, our relative lag continues for a longer period. When we joined the EU, we were third out of 11 countries in the Central and Eastern European region, and with last year's data we have just lost last place.
In terms of GDP per capita, or the evolution of earnings, in the past two decades we have been gradually pushed back in the regional lists. According to average indicators that hide the distribution, the local population is considered major savers in the region, which also contributes to the decline in consumption. From a macroeconomic point of view, the high rate of investment is responsible for the lack of availability for consumption.
