Saddening: Fewer and fewer Hungarians can afford a one-week holiday

The latest Eurostat figures highlight a growing problem across Europe: for an increasing number of households, even a short, one-week holiday is becoming unaffordable.

In Western and Northern Europe, travelling remains a natural part of everyday wellbeing, but for the residents of several Central and Eastern European countries – including Hungarians – a holiday is turning into an unattainable luxury for wide sections of society.

Fewer and fewer Hungarian people can afford a 7-day vacation

According to a CHART by Pénzcentrum analysis, the ability to go on holiday is far more than a question of paying for accommodation and travel. It reflects deeper economic realities: how stable household incomes are, whether families can build up savings, and whether they have any financial flexibility beyond their everyday expenses.

Eurostat’s latest data shows that, on average, 28% of Europeans cannot afford even a single week away – and in several regions the situation is continuing to worsen. The greatest challenges are found in Eastern Europe. In the Visegrád region and the Balkans, giving up holidays affects a significant proportion of the population.

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Money rules the world

This is not explained solely by lower income levels; equally important factors include financial vulnerability, persistently weak saving capacity and the long-term rise in the cost of living, which continues to weigh heavily on households.

The situation of Hungarian people stands out particularly negatively. Almost 40 per cent of the population is unable to afford a one-week holiday, a figure well above the EU average. Several factors contribute to this.

Firstly, high food and energy prices, the limited purchasing power of wages and the lack of meaningful financial reserves among a large share of households. As a result, a holiday is not a routine part of everyday wellbeing for many Hungarians, but rather a desired yet rarely attainable opportunity.

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In contrast, in Western European countries, regular travel remains an essential element of quality of life. The gap highlights that although EU member states may be drawing closer in many areas, a significant divide in living standards persists between the western and eastern parts of the continent.

Analysts say the affordability of holidays is set to become an increasingly important social indicator in the following years: a clear measure of how economically stable families are, and whether they can afford to spend money on improving their quality of life beyond merely covering day-to-day necessities.