The Hungarian government is failing to ensure older people's rights to social security and to an adequate standard of living, including access to sufficient food, medicine, and energy, Human Rights Watch said today. The authorities should urgently review retirement pensions and take immediate steps to increase pension levels in line with human rights obligations to address rising poverty among older people.
"The Hungarian government expects hundreds of thousands of older people to survive on low pensions that are evidently inadequate," said Kartik Raj, senior Europe researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Hungary's insufficient social security system forces many older people to choose whether to spend their meager pensions on food, medicine, or heating, and which essential item to do without."
Official data show that about 2 million people received age-related pensions at the end of 2024, more than two-thirds of them below the monthly gross minimum wage (266,800 HUF, or €676). Almost a quarter of all pensioners (471,000 people) receive pensions below the official income poverty threshold (173,990 HUF, or €441). Higher numbers and proportions of women receive pensions below these thresholds.
Number and Percentage of People Receiving Old-Age Pensions Lower Than Thresholds
2024
Human Rights Watch interviewed 45 people ages 65 to 91 who receive age-based contributory pensions in Budapest and two rural communities, and social policy experts and pensioner associations, and analyzed official data.
Hungarian Central Statistical Office data show a rapidly rising risk of poverty for older people. The at-risk-of-poverty rate for people 65 and over increased from 6.3 percent in 2018 to 16.1 percent in 2023. Nearly one-in-five older women is at risk of poverty. The data show a general decline in the at-risk-of-poverty rate across the population and for people under 64; which the authorities have chosen to emphasize while downplaying rising poverty for older people.
The increase in poverty experienced by older people coincides with rising inflation since 2018, which skyrocketed in 2022 and 2023 when food price increases in Hungary outstripped those in other European Union countries. Older people on low pensions were among those hardest hit, with many unable to maintain adequate diets due to the surging prices of staples, such as sugar, oil, flour, dairy, meat, and fruit.
Hungarian authorities responded by managing gas prices, and imposing partial price controls on key food items in 2023 and 2025. However, vendors increased prices of other uncapped goods to make up their losses, limiting the effectiveness of price capping.
The plight of older people in Hungary is at odds with the government's repeated claims that it prioritizes the wellbeing of "ordinary Hungarians," Human Rights Watch said. These claims also come amid international concern over Hungary's anti-democratic rule and widespread violations of liberties and freedoms.
The rise in poverty among older people highlights longstanding structural problems with the Hungarian pension and social security system. These include a flawed pension indexation method that causes low pensions to lose value faster than higher ones, perpetuating inequality, and leaving those with the lowest incomes furthest behind.
"People who have millions can't imagine this life, when you have nothing to spend and are just surviving," said a 90-year-old woman who worked in a state-owned textile company and then ran a state shop in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county, until she retired in 1991. "A person who worked for 40 years shouldn't have to live like this. We need a more equal pension system."
Government steps to provide additional financial support to pensioners have only provided partial relief and have not addressed structural inequalities. In 2020, the government gradually introduced a "13th month pension," providing all pensioners with an extra monthly payment per year since 2024. In November 2025, the government proposed creating a "14th month pension." Although older people interviewed appreciated the additional support, many want the government to address the fundamental problem that their monthly pensions are too low to reverse the increasing at-risk-of-poverty rate among older people.
In July 2025, the government decided to issue one-off 30,000 HUF (€76) in food vouchers to all pension recipients, redeemable for "cold food" between October and December. Many older people interviewed said having the cash equivalent added to their pension, instead of vouchers, would have allowed them greater independence over how to spend the funds. A few dismissed the meal vouchers as a political gimmick and others said they were worth significantly less than a tax refund for pension recipients that was initially proposed by the government, but abandoned due to administrative complexity.
Hungary has an obligation under the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights to ensure all economic, social, and cultural rights, including the rights to social security, to an adequate standard of living, and the highest attainable standard of health. International human rights standards, treaties, and related guidance on social security set out clear requirements for the adequacy of social security benefits. European social rights law provides protection from poverty and social exclusion, as well as a specific "right of elderly persons to social protection."
Hungary should urgently review the adequacy of pension levels, raising the lowest pensions to reduce pension inequality, to guarantee the rights of all older people in the country to social security and an adequate standard of living. In particular, the government should take immediate steps to ensure that no one is left without adequate nutritious food, sufficient energy to warm their home, and necessary medication and supplies to ensure their health.
"Food coupons or a hastily legislated extra month's pension are band-aids to address Hungary's open wound of rising pensioner poverty," Raj said. "If the Hungarian government genuinely cares about older people's right to social security, it should urgently increase low pensions, take decisive steps to make the system more equitable, and ensure that all older people in the country can afford a decent, dignified living standard."
