Health in Hungary

Although death rates have decreased in Hungary since 1985, life expectancy remains low by European standards, particularly among Romani people. Almost half the deaths are caused by cardiovascular disease. A tax on some high-sugar foods, introduced in 2011, has encountered opposition from the confectionery trade. Drinking remains a major health problem, while smoking prevalence has greatly decreased. Health, in general, is poorer in the southern and eastern parts of the country.

Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Losonci neighbourhood, Budapest

Public health measures

In 2016 Hunbisco produced a critical report on the implementation of the sugar tax which was introduced in Hungary in 2011. It reported that the consumption of products subject to the sugar tax had decreased. They argued that manufacturers now have a smaller budget to explore healthier alternatives to sugar. Innovation and new marketing initiatives have reduced since 2011. The effect of the health tax, in addition to 27% VAT, increases the price of products by as much as 40% and has led to redundancies. They say that the consumption of other products not subject to the tax but with similar nutritional contents, like popcorn, has not dropped. They advocate the abolition of the tax in favor of educational measures.[1]

In 2011 the government passed a new tax levied on food products containing excessive amounts of salt, sugar or caffeine and since 2014 it is illegal to advertise food products containing more than 2% trans-fatty acids.[2]

Mortality statistics

Life expectancy

Despite recent improvements, life expectancy in Hungary is still among the lowest in the European Union.[3] Romani people have a life expectancy up to ten years lower than ethnic Hungarians.[4]

Life expectancy at birth in Hungary
YearLife expectancy
(years, man/woman)		Infant mortality rate (‰)Suicide rate

(per 100,000 people)

194959.28 / 63.4091.023.9
196065.89 / 70.1047.626.0
197066.31 / 72.0835.934.6
198065.45 / 72.7023.244.9
199065.13 / 73.7114.839.8
200168.15 / 76.468.129.2
201170.93 / 78.234.924.3
201271.45 / 78.384.923.7
201372.01 / 78.735.121.1
2020 72,21 / 78,74 3,5 17,49

Sources:[5][6][7]

Major causes of death
Suicide rate in Hungary (1950–2010). Since the fall of Communism the suicide rate decreased rapidly.
Nemzeti dohánybolt (National Tobacco Shop) in Békéscsaba. These state-controlled shops have the same design and regulation all over Hungary.

62,979 deaths (49.4% of all) in Hungary were caused by cardiovascular disease in 2013.[5] The number of cardiovascular disease deaths peaked in 1985 at 79,355, declining continuously since the fall of Communism.[5] The second most important cause of death was cancer with 33,274 (26.2% of all), stagnating since the 1990s.[5] The number of accident deaths dropped from 8,760 in 1990 to 3,654 in 2013, and the number of suicides from 4,911 in 1983 to 2,093 (21.1 per 100,000 people) in 2013 (the lowest data registered since 1956).[5][6] According to Péter Polt, Chief Prosecutor of Hungary, there were only 133 homicides in 2012, which is the lowest number registered in the last 50 years in Hungary.[8] The homicide rate was 1.3 per 100,000 people, which is among the lowest in the World.

Major health issues

Despite recent improvements, alcoholism is still a major problem in Hungary, inherited from the Socialist era.[9] According to KSH estimates, the number of alcohol addicts was 1,052,000 (10% of the total population) in 1995, and declined to 432,000 (4.3% of the total population) in 2005.[10] Hungarians drank 9.5 litres of pure alcohol per capita in 2012; in 2005 alcohol consumption took the form of 40% wine, 35% beer, and 24% spirits.[11]). Annual alcohol consumption has remained constant at between 9 and 11.5 liters of pure alcohol since the 1970s.[12]

Smoking

Smoking also causes significant losses to Hungarian society. 28% of the adult population smoked in 2012, dropping to 25.8% in 2014 due to new regulations.[13] Nationwide smoking bans have been extended to every indoor public place (including pubs), and the sale of tobacco is limited to state-controlled (but privately owned) tobacco shops[14] called Nemzeti dohánybolt (National Tobacco Shop). The number of stores where people can buy tobacco decreased from 40,000–42,000 to 5,300.[15] In 2013 WHO gave an award to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for "accomplishments in the area of tobacco control".[16]

The Hungarian Central Statistical Office measures smoking habits on a five-year basis. In 2019 24,5% of the adult population used tobacco products daily while 55,2% never smoked.[13] Overall the percentage of adults who regularly smoke dropped from 27% in 2009 to 24,5% in 2019. According to the Hungarian Society of Cardiology approximately 40,000 people die from smoking-related causes such as cancer.[17] A 2017 study found that primary care doctors provide insufficient treatment to those suffering from nicotine addiction and seeking to quit.[18] Only 2% of smokers received pharmacotherapy while 25% of the participants were treated with brief intervention programs. These findings articulated the need for better guidelines for general practitioners to treat nicotine addiction more effectively.

Regional differences

According to the last Országos Lakossági Egészségfelmérés ("National Population Health Survey") held in 2003 the most healthy region is Western Transdanubia and the least is the Southern Great Plain. There are huge differences between the western and eastern parts of Hungary, heart disease, hypertension, stroke and suicide is prevalent in the mostly agricultural and low-income characteristic Great Plain (can be described as the Hungarian Stroke Belt), but infrequent in the high-income and middle class characteristic Western Transdanubia. Central Hungary (region of Budapest) is between east and west by health.[19]

See also

Healthcare in Hungary

References
  1. "Better health but side effects persist". Budapest Times. 21 February 2016. Archived from the original on 2 March 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  2. Czuriga, Istvan (April 2016). "Country report Hungary" (PDF). European Society of Cardiology. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  3. Eurostat - Life expectancy at birth
  4. "Hungary's Healthcare System" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-02-13. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
  5. Vital statistics, Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH)
  6. Rudolf Andorka - Harcsa István: Deviáns viselkedés, TÁRKI, Budapest 1990, pp. 9-11 (Hungarian)
  7. "STADAT – 6.1.7. Születéskor várható átlagos élettartam, átlagéletkor (2001–)". www.ksh.hu. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  8. Polt Péter: rég volt ilyen alacsony itthon a gyilkosságok száma ("Péter Polt: number of homicides is the lowest for a long time"), HVG (Hungarian)
  9. Judit Kiss - Edina Gábor: Az alkoholfogyasztás hazai tendenciái a 80-as évektől napjainkig I. ("Tendencies of the Hungarian alcohol consumption from the 1980s"), Országos Egészségfejlesztési Intézet ("National Institute for Health Development") (Hungarian)
  10. Number of alcohol addicts in Hungary, 1990–2005
  11. WHO Global Alcohol Report, Europe (English), p.20.
  12. Alcohol, coffee, tea and tobacco consumption in Hungary (1970–2011), Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH)
  13. "STADAT – 2.4.40. A népesség megoszlása dohányzási szokások szerint (2009–)". www.ksh.hu. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  14. Govt allocates HUF 450 mln to company facilitating tobacco sales monopoly, Budapest Business Journal (English)
  15. Itt vannak a nemzeti dohányboltok ("Here are the national tobacco shops"), index.hu (Hungarian)
  16. WHO awards Orbán in fight against “tobacco industry tactics”, Budapest Business Journal (English)
  17. "Ennyi magyar hal meg évente a cigitől". Noizz.hu (in Hungarian). 2019-11-21. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  18. Sipos, Valéria; Pálinkás, Anita; Kovács, Nóra; Csenteri, Karola Orsolya; Vincze, Ferenc; Szőllősi, József Gergő; Jenei, Tibor; Papp, Magor; Ádány, Róza; Sándor, János (2018-02-01). "Smoking cessation support for regular smokers in Hungarian primary care: a nationwide representative cross-sectional study". BMJ Open. 8 (2): e018932. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-018932. ISSN 2044-6055. PMC 5829607. PMID 29431134.
  19. "Országos Lakossági Egészségfelmérés ("National Population Health Survey"), 2003, Dr. Dóra Hermann: Krónikus betegségek (Chronic illnesses)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-04-04. Retrieved 2016-02-21.
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