Is there a significant gap between the rich and the poor in Hungary?

The opposition Socialists have called for narrowing the gap between rich and poor.

Speaking in an online press conference on Saturday, the party’s deputy chairman, Imre Komjáthi, said that ever since Fidesz came to power in 2010 the government had introduced many unfair measures that increased inequality, making the rich richer and the poor poorer.

Komjáthi said Fidesz liked to cite averages, but the reality was that the incomes and pensions of a great portion of the population were below average.

He said narrowing the gap between rich and poor would be a task for “the pro-republican” parties after 2022, he said, adding that the Socialists insisted that all Hungarians had the right to fair wages and a fair pension.

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Citing data from the National Employment Service, he said there were 300,000 jobseekers in January, almost half of whom do not receive any state benefits.

Ever since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Socialist Party has demanded that eligibility for

unemployment benefits should be raised to 9 months and should be worth at least 100,000 forints (EUR 279).