Number of Hungarians living in poverty plummets

Whereas the ratio of those living beyond poverty line was 23.4 percent in 2010, this dropped to 8.7 percent last year, elevating Hungary to the top ten EU member states from bottom of the list, Attila Fulop, the state secretary in charge of social affairs, said in Tarpa.

He said the favourable development was thanks to the government’s job-creation measures.

“Jobs are key to developing communities that help improve a secure way of life,” Fulop told a press conference.

He said a recent report by “leftist” Hungarian economic research institute GKI aimed “to prove” that poverty in Hungary had increased in the past ten years.

“But, contradicting the Budapest institute’s report, the reality can be found here in Tarpa,” Fulop said, adding that “authentic Eurostat data, a standard across Europe, prove that the number of those living in poverty has dropped.”