Hungary precedes Slovakia in GDP per capita for the first time in 10 years

Purchasing power adjusted GDP per capita in Slovakia has been higher than in Hungary since 2010. Hungary has been trying to catch up over the years, and finally overtook Slovakia in 2019.

2019 was not a bad economic year. The GDP of the European Union stood at around €13 900 billion, which was 17% higher than one decade earlier. 2019 was a good year for Hungary as well, as we experienced economic growth of 5%, and the GDP per capita increased gradually. Then, a global pandemic hit the world, and the numbers started falling sharply.

Even though the GDP per capita increased in Hungary in 2019, it was only half of the GDP per capita in the richest EU member states, Hvg reports based on Eurostat’s data.

Eurostat analyses purchasing power parities and related economic indicators like GDP per capita, level of actual individual consumption per capita, and countries’ price level indices in the European Union.

GDP is a good indicator of the level of economic activity, but the material welfare of households can be better described by the Actual Individual Consumption (AIC). In this regard, unfortunately, Hungary still finished at the bottom of the list in 2019 – second to last, to be exact.

Countries of the so-called Visegrád four are often compared to each other to see who does how in the region. Out of the Visegrád Four,

the Czech Republic produced the highest GDP per capita in 2019 (based on purchasing power parities). The Czech Republic was followed by Hungary, which is unprecedented. Hungary overtook Slovakia for the first time in ten years.

The GDP per capita (based on purchasing power parities) in Slovakia has been higher than in Hungary since 2010. Hungary has been trying to catch up over the years and finally overtook Slovakia’s numbers in 2019 for the first time.

Due to restrictions implemented across the world in 2020 to slow down the rapid spread of COVID-19, GDP has been falling sharply across the EU.

In Q2 of 2020, Hungary’s GDP dropped by 13.5% compared to Q2 of 2019. This is the biggest drop ever in the entire EU in one single quarter, making this a historic recession.

Even at the beginning of 2009 (following the great economic crisis of 2008), the drop in GDP was “only” around 7-8%.  

Read alsoEurostat: Hungary among the poorest EU countries again

Source: www.hvg.hu; https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat