Hungarian salaries are depressingly low! Here are the facts!

According to portfolio.hu‘s report about the new OECD findings, Hungary is at the very bottom of the list in terms of salary. The country’s situation is different regarding gross and net earnings.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development was founded in 1961 to help the economic progress of its 35 member countries. Their most recent figures reveal a lot about the average salaries of the members and how they compare to each other, as shown in the graph made by howmuch.net.

It is important to note that the list was compiled using annual salaries converted to USD while considering local price rates as well, to make the comparison easier. Gross earning was the primary concern when assembling the order.

However, because of the different tax rates in each country, it happens that the order is different when it comes to net earning (the amount of money people actually take home).

The graph displays net income, tax rates and the percentage of gross income that covers social security contributions.

The list reveals that Switzerland, Luxembourg and Iceland offer the highest salaries.

Hungary is in 31st place in terms of gross income, however, due to high national taxes, it occupies 33rd place when it comes to net income, only preceding Mexico and Latvia.

Switzerland is in first place among the 35 member countries, both in terms of gross and net earnings. Luxembourg follows in 2nd while Iceland is in 3rd place. It is difficult to determine which country comes next, as tax rates make a huge difference. For example, South-Korea offers lower gross income than Germany but, because of high taxes for Germans, South-Koreans still earn more in terms of net income.

Interestingly, both the US and the UK are preceded by countries like the Netherlands and Australia.

Hungary is at the very bottom of the list. While it precedes 4 countries when it comes to gross income, the high tax rates cause the country to occupy 33rd place (out of 35) in terms of net income.

The net income situation is only worse in Mexico and Latvia.

Slovakian net pay is better by 5% while both Czech and Polish salaries are higher than Hungarian by 10%.

For more surprising data about Hungary’s place on international lists, check out this article about the international obesity list.

Source: portfolio.hu