K&H: how much have the costs of living increased – middle-aged Hungarians “confessed”

The rise in the cost of living continues to be one of the biggest challenges for the population, although there has been some relief compared to last year. While 92 percent of respondents reported increasing expenses in 2023, this proportion decreased to around 80 percent in 2024 and 2025. Nearly half of those affected, 49 percent, experienced a significant increase in prices, while 31 percent experienced a smaller increase.

The highest proportion of people with high and middle incomes mentioned the increase in the cost of living: 88 and 82 percent of them reported an increase, while the proportion among low incomes was 71 percent.

How much exactly?

Only a few people perceived a significant decrease in prices: only 12 percent of those surveyed experienced a decrease in the cost of living. In this group, low incomes were the majority (17 percent), while the proportion among medium and high incomes was 12 and 7 percent, respectively. Quantifying the increase in costs: those whose expenses increased reported an average of 53 thousand forints higher costs per month – the same as last year. The smallest increase was measured among low and high incomes (49 and 50 thousand forints), while the average additional expenditure among medium incomes reached 59 thousand forints. This also means that respondents in different income categories were affected by the increase in expenses to very different degrees. For a significant portion of low- and middle-income earners, the increase in expenses of 49 and 59 thousand forints represents a double-digit ratio of total income, while for high-income earners it is no more than 7 percent. However, there are also those who say that their expenses have not changed, representing 8 percent of respondents.