Romania has officially overtaken Hungary - wrote several opposition newspapers in the past few days. We didn't have to wait long for Márton Nagy's answer. The Minister of National Economy stated in an opinion article: the standard of living and the degree of satisfaction are much higher in Hungary.
"First of all, it is important to say at the beginning of my article that Romania is an important European Union partner, a valued neighbor, where more than one million Hungarian compatriots also live. Still, the question arises: if we could choose to be born in Romania or Hungary before our birth, which country would we choose? On the basis of which aspects would we decide and which indicators important to us would we analyze before making a decision? I am sure that the current value of GDP growth would not be decisive, since the GDP indicator used to measure economic performance does not tell much about the issues of material well-being and living standards, since it is much more just a snapshot of the economy's performance in a given year. about its condition.
Although the performance of the Romanian economy in terms of GDP per capita, calculated at purchasing power parity, has overtaken the Hungarian one in proportion to the EU average by 2023, this does not give a true picture of the living and working conditions, nor of the financial situation in Hungary or Romania. , as well as the sustainability and balance of economic performance.
Instead of "making money", i.e. simply measuring GDP, it is worth looking at the results of the Harmonic Growth Index (HNI), which measures sustainable, broad-based development and works exclusively with objective data.
Hungary was in 29th place in the world, while Romania was in 46th place. Romania clearly performs worse than Hungary in the dimensions of HNI financial sustainability, work- and knowledge-based society, and social sustainability..."
The full article can be read in Magyar Nemzet
Cover photo: MTI/István Derencsényi
