Hungary continues to rank among Europe’s most immigration-skeptical societies, with public attitudes showing stability over the past decade despite years of intense political debate, according to a new analysis published by the Republikon Institute.
Released in July, the report examines long-term survey data from the European Social Survey (ESS) and the Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) to assess both public opinion and the country’s integration policies.
The findings suggest that while migration has remained a central political issue since the 2015 refugee crisis, underlying public attitudes have changed far less than political rhetoric might imply.
Opposition remains consistently high
According to the ESS data cited in the report, nearly half of Hungarians would not allow any immigrants from poorer countries to settle in Hungary, while around four in ten would admit only a small number. Support for accepting larger numbers remains in the low single digits.
The institute argues that although anti-immigration campaigns around 2015–2017 temporarily intensified negative sentiment, they did not fundamentally alter a long-standing trend of skepticism that predates the refugee crisis.
The analysis also references earlier TÁRKI surveys, which showed a spike in anti-immigrant sentiment during the 2016 migration referendum campaign before migration gradually lost prominence to inflation, living costs and broader economic concerns after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Integration policies lag behind Europe
Using the 2025 Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX), Republikon notes that Hungary ranks sixth from the bottom among EU member states in the quality of its integration policies. The weakest areas include access to healthcare, education and pathways to citizenship.
The report argues that limited integration measures and persistent public skepticism reinforce one another, although this interpretation reflects the institute’s own analysis rather than the underlying international datasets.
Economic implications extend beyond politics
Hungary, like much of Central Europe, faces structural labor shortages driven by demographic decline and an aging workforce. Manufacturing, logistics, construction and hospitality have increasingly relied on foreign workers in recent years, even as political discourse has remained firmly opposed to large-scale immigration.
International companies evaluating investment destinations also monitor labor availability alongside workforce mobility, making migration policy an increasingly relevant economic issue rather than solely a political one.
