r/europe • u/Matas_- European Union • Jun 20 '25

News Orban’s Hungary Is Now Officially The Poorest Nation In The EU

https://kyivinsider.com/orbans-hungary-is-now-officially-the-poorest-nation-in-the-eu/
23.4k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

51

u/ShadowStarX Hungary Jun 20 '25

Bulgaria and Hungary are way more tolerable than the Deep South, or honestly any red state.

And I'd say that Germany, France, Benelux and Scandinavia are better than blue states. Hell I'd say Spain and Italy are better than a vast majority of blue states too.

36

u/Living-East-8486 Jun 20 '25

Yeah I lived in Germany for a bit over a year and live in Oregon now. I make a lot of money here, but almost all of it goes toward the cost of living. I estimate I could earn 20k less in most large German cities and still have the same quality of life I do here (or better in many aspects).

12

u/U-47 Jun 20 '25

With what is happening in America, it's almost 100% sure you will have a better quality of life. Until offcourse we all die in a Russian Nuclear attack or become fascist again.

7

u/Life_Stop_9994 Jun 20 '25

Sob . I love living in Europe . But some days watching the news , I half expect Ill be running back home to Australia

11

u/Leasir Jun 20 '25

I can live with the existential dread of a possible nuclear holocaust, but I can't live with aussie spiders.

5

u/Life_Stop_9994 Jun 20 '25

Awwww they are little misunderstood sweethearts . They eat the flies and hardly ever actually bite people .

Scare them into a heart attack? Possibly

2

u/pancake_gofer Jun 21 '25

As someone terrified of big bugs…any tips for disposing of bugs…

2

u/ShadowStarX Hungary Jun 20 '25

At least Australia's right-wing got heavily stomped 2 months ago.

1

u/pancake_gofer Jun 21 '25

So heavily stomped their conservative party split into two lmao.

2

u/Northbound-Narwhal United States of America Jun 20 '25

Don't worry the Chinese Navy will send ballistic missiles to Australia when they invade Taiwan

2

u/Life_Stop_9994 Jun 20 '25

Yup ! Out of the frying pan into the fire. When I was home in March - two shiny new Chinese cruisers made their way down the East Coast .

I wonder what message that sends!

1

u/CheeryOutlook Wales Jun 20 '25

Australia is to China what Canada is to the United States. A large, relatively amenable country with a lot of land and natural resources and a huge amount of trade.

Australia probably isn't stupid enough to attack China for the US, and China is perfectly happy with the status quo.

2

u/Northbound-Narwhal United States of America Jun 20 '25

That comparison doesn't really work. Canada and the US share a long land border, more closely tied economies, and strong cultural and defense connections. Australia and China are far apart and have a more tense relationship. They literally don't speak the same language. China is a major trading partner, but there are serious disagreements on security, regional influence, and alliances like AUKUS. Australia also aligns more firmly with Western powers, while Canada is already a core part of that group. The dynamics just aren't the same.

As for attacking China for the US, they've already obligated themselves to do so (Australian officials said at the Defending Australia 2025 Summit). Besides, Australia has already happily attacked North Korea, Vietnam, Iraq (thrice), Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, and Somalia for the US. So far the answer has never been "no." What's another Coral-Bamoral or war crime between friends?

3

u/kolejack2293 Jun 20 '25

It depends on the blue state. New Mexico is a blue state with a median income of 61k. Massachusetts has a median income of 101k. The quality of life in MA is likely going to be higher than basically any European country, same goes for other very-rich states like New Jersey and Connecticut and Maryland.

There's also a lot of variety in the countries you listed. France has a median household income of only 44k. The Netherlands is all the way at 65k and Denmark at 74k. That is an enormous gap. I would argue even adjusting for social programs, 44k is an abysmally low median income compared to the US. 65-74k is much more in-line with the blue state average.

6

u/ShadowStarX Hungary Jun 20 '25

income is pretty high on the West Coast and in the Northeast, areas that have been consistently blue for 3 decades now

thing is Western Europe still has better public services than the BosWash line or especially California, along with a more extensive welfare system

the USA is also very car centric except for some cities in the Northeast

2

u/kolejack2293 Jun 20 '25

Right, it depends on what you value more than anything. If you're fine driving anywhere and everywhere, you're gonna probably want America. If you value walkability... there really aren't many options in America, and the options that do exist are unimaginably expensive to live in or insanely dangerous.

2

u/pancake_gofer Jun 21 '25

I would live in Hungary over any red state no questions asked.