Budapest STUDY Ageing and Care for the Elderly in Hungary General Survey and Problems ANDREA GYARMATI April 2019 The burden of social care in Hungary is constantly increasing. The over-65 age demo­graphic now numbers 1.8 million people, around 1.3 million of whom live with some form of disability. However, care close to the home(home help) is accessible to just 7% of those in this category. Only 3% of elderly people are able to take advantage of specialist care in a nursing home, while those on the ever-lengthening waiting lists already number more than half of those already in care institutions. No new places in state-funded nurs­ing care accommodation have been created in the last eight years. All municipal governments are obliged to provide certain basic social services(catering, home help). Their capacities, however, are unevenly distributed: In some areas as many as 80% of elderly inhabitants are guaranteed care services, while in others the figure is only a few percent. The system is characterised by a lack of available information: only about one third of elderly people are actually aware of what they are entitled to. The Hungarian state currently only spends about 0.4% of GDP on care for the elderly, with a minimal year-on-year increase. Financing is provided through a kind of planned economy: the funds specified in the budgetary law are not earmarked for any actual expenses related to care provision. The care deficit, meanwhile, continues to grow. The number of professional carers is declining, as wages in the social sector are the lowest in the entire national economy, which means that since 2010 the number of unfilled job vacancies has steadily increased. The average age of professional carer is around fifty, meaning that a large proportion will shortly retire, and more and more positions are filled by unskilled labour. The number of family carers stands at around 400,000–500,000, of whom a total of only around 20,000 receive the legally mandated private care stipend. Many are unaware that they are entitled to this financial support. The number of family carers is low by European standards, and a variety of factors contribute to their continued decline: an ever-increas­ing number of elderly people do not have living children, and even if they do, those children have often moved abroad. The number of divorcees, meanwhile, continues to rise. The consequences are already apparent: if the state does not reassess its role in the care crisis, an ever-greater number of vulnerable elderly people will be left without profes­sional care, or indeed any form of assistance whatsoever.