Subscribe to our social channels to get the latest news about Hungary!
Worrying! Life expectancy of Hungarians set a negative record
Change language:
For more than three decades, there has been no decline in the life expectancy of Hungarians; however, last year’s figures are more than worrying. As a result of the pandemic, both the number of death and life expectancy of Hungarians set a negative record in 2020. See the numbers below!
As the Hungarian news portal Portfolio reports, it was no exaggeration at all when the coronavirus epidemic was compared to an invisible enemy with which the world is at war. The fresh data of the Central Statistical Office serve as an explanation: the coronavirus epidemic in Hungary raised the number of deaths to a twenty-year peak and caused a drop in life expectancy unprecedented since the change of regime.
Last year, 143,000 people died in the country, which is 10,000 more than in the previous years; based on which,
the pandemic has broken the decades-long favourable tendency of mortality rate in Hungary.
In addition to setting a dismal record in terms of raising the number of deaths to a twenty-year peak, life expectancy has also declined to an unprecedented extent. Based on the data of the Central Statistical Office, life expectancy at birth dropped to 75.52 years in 2020 from 76.16 years in the previous year, corresponding to a decrease of 0.64 years.
There has been no example of such a drastic decline in life expectancy since the change of regime.
In the pre-covid period, life expectancy at birth increased by 0.2 years in Hungary; after which, it is quite worrying that a 0.64-year decline could be observed last year – reported by Pénzcentrum.
Even though it is not possible to know in Hungary how many people died in connection with the coronavirus in each county, it is certain that life expectancy was negatively affected everywhere by the epidemic. Nor can it be known that life expectancy fell in one county to a greater extent than in another because the epidemic was greater or other health benefits were pushed into the background due to the virus. Where the rate of decrease is significant – close to or greater than one year – it is not excluded that both factors occurred simultaneously.