Misbeliefs About Hungary

Ipsos carried out a survey in 14 countries, with the intention to explore people’s awareness concerning some sociological facts of international interest. The population of Hungary did not perform very well, it occupies the 10th position.

Swedes are the most familiar with their own society, but the awareness of Germans and Japanese is also remarkable. Least of all, Italians and Americans are aware of the facts about their countries. Hungarians were out in the voter turnout at the latest parliamentary elections and at the rate of unemployment – the former is thought to be much smaller than it really is (47%), the latter is thought to be much higher (39%) than the official. Next, the topics covered by the survey are represented, and facts and assumptions of the population are compared. The data used are from national and international statistics.

Teenage pregnancy: according to Hungarians’ suppositions, 16% of the girls aged 15-19 give birth, while the truth is that it is only 2%. With this misbelief, Hungary is towards the end of the list, at the 11th place.

Muslims: in Hungary, the rate of Muslims is low, measured in only a few tenths of a percent. However, the population thinks that more people (7%) fall into this group. This exaggerated estimation is still relatively close to the facts, only three countries estimated it more accurately: South Korea, Poland and Japan.

Christians: according to official figures from the 2011 consensus, the proportion of those belonging to the Christian religions is 53%. People think that 63% belongs to this group. Based on our level of knowledge, we are in second place behind the Germans, who are aware of the exact percentage. However, the the latest census data on religious and sectarian classification were under discussion. During the previous census (2001), even more people (73%) claimed to be Christians. The significant decrease is likely due to the fact that while in 2001, 11% did not answer the referendum question about religion, now 27% abstained.
Immigrants: according to the official international statistics, 2% of the people living here count as immigrants. According to the population, it is much higher: 16%. All countries included in the survey overestimate the presence of immigrants: we are at the 10th place of the awareness ranking. During the research, people were informed about the actual ratio following their answers, and were asked why they think that there are more immigrants than the data in the official statistics. It is a common argument (40%) that many people enter and stay in Hungary illegally, and they are not officially registered. The other common excuse (36%) for the false perception argued that they mentioned the relatively high proportions based on the experience of their environments.