Hungary has the poorest COVID-19 testing numbers in the EU

With only 55 COVID-19 tests performed per 1,000 inhabitants, Hungary lags behind most European countries. At the same time, the share of positive tests indicates that the number of performed tests may not be in line with the spread of the virus.

Statistical data by Our World in Data, published by Euronews here, has revealed a ranking of countries based on how many COVID-19 tests are performed per one thousand people. According to the results, the country that has been doing the most intensive testing is Luxembourg: here, 650 tests were performed per 1,000 inhabitants. This was followed by Denmark with 532 and Lithuania with 255. Figures are available from as early as mid-March and are continuously updated.

With 55 tests performed, Hungary is third to last in the ranking, with only Croatia and Ukraine having a lower number of tests performed (40).

It is important to note that the numbers coming from each country do not refer to the exact same information. Croatia, for example, reports the number of people who were tested instead of the total number of tests performed, which is the figure most countries have been providing. In Lithuania, the number refers to the tests that were actually analysed.

In our region, the best figures belong to Austria (150), but according to Euronews, Serbia is among the better performers, too. These two are followed by Romania with 105 tests, but the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Poland, and Slovakia too are ahead of Hungary. Only Croatia and Ukraine have poorer figures than Hungary, although as mentioned above, calculations were slightly different in these cases.