Hungary (HU)


Hungary is a country in Central Europe. Spanning 93,030 square kilometres (35,920 sq mi) in the Carpathian Basin, it borders Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Austria to the northwest, Romania to the east, Serbia to the south, Croatia to the southwest, and Slovenia to the west. With about 10 million inhabitants, Hungary is a medium-sized member state of the European Union. The official language is Hungarian, which is the most widely spoken Uralic language in the world, and among the few non-Indo-European languages to be widely spoken in Europe. Hungary's capital and largest city is Budapest; other major urban areas include Debrecen, Szeged, Miskolc, Pécs and Győr.


The Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed after World War I, and the subsequent Treaty of Trianon established Hungary's current borders, resulting in the loss of 71% of its territory, 58% of its population, and 32% of ethnic Hungarians. Following the tumultuous interwar period, Hungary joined the Axis Powers in World War II, suffering significant damage and casualties. Hungary became a satellite state of the Soviet Union, which contributed to the establishment of a socialist republic spanning four decades (19491989). The country gained widespread international attention as a result of its 1956 revolution and the seminal opening of its previously-restricted border with Austria in 1989, which accelerated the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. On 23 October 1989, Hungary became a democratic parliamentary republic.

Hungary is an OECD high-income economy and has the world's 58th largest economy by PPP. It ranks 45th on the Human Development Index, owing in large part to its social security system, universal health care, and tuition-free secondary education. Hungary's rich cultural history includes significant contributions to the arts, music, literature, sports, science and technology. It is the 13th most popular tourist destination in Europe, attracting 15.8 million international tourists in 2017, owing to attractions such as the largest thermal water cave system in the world, second largest thermal lake, the largest lake in Central Europe and the largest natural grasslands in Europe. Hungary's cultural, historical, and academic prominence classify it as a middle power in global affairs.

Hungary joined the European Union in 2004 and has been part of the Schengen Area since 2007. It is a member of numerous international organizations, including the United Nations, NATO, WTO, World Bank, the AIIB, the Council of Europe, and the Visegrád Group.



3 ministries are involved in the EU-SPI project: Ministry of Human Capacities, State Secretariat of Social Issues and Social Inclusion (responsible for social inclusion policy), Ministry of Finance, Department for Territorial Development (responsible for regional policy) and Ministry of Innovation and Technology, State Secretariat for European Union Development (responsible for the coordination of the planning of the Partnership Agreement and the Operational Programmes of the 2021-2027 programming period and the evaluation of the ongoing programmes).

National Level: The Hungarian National Strategy for Social Inclusion (NSIS), adopted by the Government in 2011, defines the Hungarian inclusion policy. The implementation of the inclusion policy objectives set out in the Strategy is ensured by the related action plans covering 3-year periods. The action plans designate concrete interventions and tasks for the Government, which are accompanied by domestic or EU funds. The Strategy has a wide-ranging indicator system to monitor social processes relevant to inclusion policy. The indicator system contains data from several sources, most of the data comes from the Central Statistical Office. Some indicators of the indicator system also contain territorial breakdowns (NUTS3 or NUTS4).

Local, regional level: In Hungary, the local municipalities of all settlements prepare the local social policy goals, so-called local equality plan. The objectives of the NSIS are reflected in its target system. For the preparation of the local equality plan, the municipalities use a basic data set defined in the legislation, and their work is supported by a uniform information system. The data provide an analysis of the social situation of disadvantaged social groups and sets out the measures needed to address the problems identified in this action plan.


The completed plans are reviewed every five years. The home page of the NSIS, and its indicator system is