Nearly one in three Hungarians runs out of money before the end of the month, while more than half have only a minimal financial buffer after covering mandatory expenses, a Provident survey shows.
The survey found that 28% of Hungarian respondents completely exhaust their monthly income, up sharply from 21% in the comparable 2022 survey. Another 51% said they have only minimal financial room after paying their regular and mandatory expenses. That leaves just 17% of respondents with a medium or large financial surplus.
Hungary leads the paycheck-to-paycheck ranking
The Hungarian result becomes even more striking in the international comparison Among the nine countries included in the survey, Hungary recorded the highest proportion of people living paycheck to paycheck.
The corresponding figure was 24% in Latvia, 20% in Estonia and Romania, 17% in Mexico, 16% in Australia, 13% in the Czech Republic, Poland and Lithuania. The data also suggest that the problem is not confined to one narrow demographic group.
Women and less-educated households face greater pressure
Financial vulnerability is particularly visible among women. Some 32% of female respondents said they have nothing left at the end of the month, compared with 24% of men. Even among employed respondents, the pressure remains substantial: 23% said they had no money left at the end of the month.
Education also appears to make a significant difference. Among respondents with higher education, 17% reported having no financial surplus at the end of the month. The proportion rose to 32% among people with no more than secondary education.
One in four Hungarian households has no emergency savings
The lack of monthly financial room is compounded by weak emergency reserves. According to the survey, 24% of Hungarian households have no emergency savings at all. A further 30% have savings that would last less than six months if they suddenly lost their income. Only 36% said they have enough savings to cover six months or more.
Long-term goals are being pushed aside
The financial pressure is also changing what Hungarians save for. The proportion of respondents saving for home purchase or renovation fell to 23% in 2026 from 37% in 2022. Saving for travel and holidays also declined, from 24% to 17%.
Yet saving itself has not disappeared. Some 37% of respondents said they save regularly, while another 27% save occasionally. At the other end of the scale, 28% said they had been unable to save at all during the previous 12 months.
Education again plays a role. Among university graduates, 48% save regularly, compared with 34% of respondents with lower levels of education. Around 35% of people living in villages said they had been unable to save during the previous year, compared with 24% of Budapest residents.
Hungarians are borrowing less
Despite the financial pressure, borrowing has actually become less common. In 2026, 64% of respondents said they had neither taken out nor requested any form of loan during the previous year, compared with 50% in 2025.
Bank borrowing in Hungary has also declined. Only 10% of respondents reported using bank loans, down from 14% in 2022. 65% of Czechs and 57% of Romanian respondents had used some form of borrowing.
