In Hungary, small pensioners forced to work to ensure their “subsistence”
Low pensions and high food prices are forcing a growing number of retirees to return to work, reports the Hungarian magazine HVG. This trend is likely to continue in the coming years.
In Hungary, in 2024, according to figures from the national statistics institute KSH, 125,000 retirees aged 65 to 74 were working to improve their pension, 5,000 more than in 2023 and 50,000 more than in 2019, reports the Hungarian weekly HVG on its website . “A third of working retirees opt for this option due to livelihood problems,” explains Attila Gazsi, vice-president of VOSZ, the main national federation of entrepreneurs and business leaders.
A trend that is “hardly surprising given the amount of their benefits,” laments HVG . “Nearly 38% of the 2 million pensioners receive less than 180,000 forints [447 euros] per month,” or 760,000 people, among whom “180,000 do not even receive 100,000 forints [248 euros] per month.” The average pension “was 243,000 forints [604 euros] in January 2025,” and “around 800,000 pensioners live below the subsistence minimum,” the article explains.
A 70-year-old retired former cost accountant told HVG that she “cannot survive on her 180,000 forint allowance” and “cleans in an office” to make ends meet. She regrets that her pension is insufficient, “even though she started working at 15,” “earned her baccalaureate by taking evening classes,” and “always held a registered job.” Yet, she “only gets by each month if she works 20 hours” per week.
“The real income of low-pension recipients – less than 210,000 forints [522 euros] per month – has fallen dramatically since the 2022 parliamentary elections,” says Tamas Katona, former head of the national statistics institute KSH. This economist attributes the phenomenon to “the 63.1% increase in food prices over the past three years” and considers the Orban government “dishonest,” which “claims to preserve the real value of pensions.”
Kalman, who receives a pension of 140,000 forints (350 euros), “is not ashamed of having to work at an advanced age” but “couldn’t live on his pension alone,” the former salesman who conducts market research tells HVG . Retirees “don’t have as good a work capacity as younger people,” but they “are profitable and very reliable” for employers, Attila Gazsi points out. According to him, the proportion of active retirees will increase over the next ten years.
