If we look at the 2010 level, by 2024 the real value of wages had increased to nearly 80% compared to that baseline. Based on roughly ten months of available data this year, we can already say—albeit as an estimate—that real wage growth is likely to rise to around 85%.
This growth was among the highest in the European Union in 2024: Hungary recorded the third-highest real wage increase in the EU.
If we compare Hungary’s average wage level in 2010 to the EU average, we were at about half of the EU level back then. By 2024, we had already reached two-thirds of the EU average.
In other words, Hungary is steadily converging toward the EU’s average wage level.