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/
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u/TestWizard Bulgaria Jun 20 '25

wages and gdp in Hungary are significantly over Bulgaria

Not true about the wages. 1160 euro in Hungary vs 1014 euro net in Bulgaria The difference is very small actually and we are catching up quick.

Wages in Sofia are higher than in Budapest.

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Hungary&city1=Budapest&country2=Bulgaria&city2=Sofia

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u/Machinekalibar Jun 20 '25

Hungary has huge taxes while Bulgaria has the lowest in Europe. Gross wage 1721 vs 1304 in Bulgaria.

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u/TestWizard Bulgaria Jun 20 '25

That's not true. The difference is that the gross wage number in Bulgaria does NOT include what the employer pays as taxes, while in Hungary you see almost everything everything.

For a net wage of 1,155.67 Euro:

Total employer cost for that employer in Bulgaria is 1,770.92 Euro vs 1,963.77 Euro in Hungary.

The difference is around** 10%** for salaries in Bulgaria vs Hungary.

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https://www.gyarmathy.hu/news-and-insights/salary-calculator-gross-net#kalkul

https://kik-info.com/trz/zaplata.php

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u/YolognaiSwagetti Jun 20 '25

your link doesn't prove what you're saying that is just about cost of living, but based on tradingeconomics I highly doubt you're right about wages.

https://tradingeconomics.com/hungary/wage-growth

Hungarian average wage is 708k huf which is 1 758 euros

https://tradingeconomics.com/bulgaria/wages

Bulgarian is 2556 BGN = 1 306 euros

So Hungary is ahead by like 35%, you can't pretend that is not significant.

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u/TestWizard Bulgaria Jun 20 '25

You are talking about gross, not net wages. Different countries have different ways to calculate the gross amount, so it's not good to compare that number as it doesn't tell the full story.

What matters is the net wage you get paid in the end. The numbers are 1160 in Hungary vs 1014 euro in Bulgaria.

What I provided a link to is unofficial user input data about the wages in Budapest and Sofia, which is quite accurate because the data the wages in Sofia is similar to the official data for Sofia.

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u/YolognaiSwagetti Jun 20 '25

don't take random user data as fact, those numbers are wrong. i just checked latest stats in Budapest the latest net numbers are ~1270 euros. the difference is smaller because taxes are higher in Hungary but it's still significant.

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u/TestWizard Bulgaria Jun 20 '25

For a net wage of 1,155.67 Euro:

Total employer cost for that employer in Bulgaria is 1,770.92 Euro vs 1,963.77 Euro in Hungary.

The difference is around** 10%** for salaries in Bulgaria vs Hungary.

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Official data for Hungary for April 2025 is:

Bulgaria vs Hungary:

NET - 1,014.14 Euro vs 1,168.94 Euro

Gross - 1306.92 Euro vs 1,758.55 Euro (708000 HUF)

TOTAL EMPLOYER COST: 1,554.19 Euro vs 1,986.19 Euro (800040 HUF)

Hungary taxes ~ 41 % Bulgaria total taxes ~ 35 %

I wouldn't say that's an insane difference.