The minimum of dignity, and the limits of fairness

Raising Hungary’s minimum pension to 120,000 forints would help nearly a quarter of a million people, but it could also create a new fairness problem just above that threshold.

Central Statistical Office data from January 2026 show that almost 242,000 people received less than 120,000 forints in their own right-based pension. Those figures represent people paying for medicine, heating, food and housing, often with declining health and fewer opportunities to supplement their income through work.

The harder question begins immediately above the proposed minimum. Almost half a million people receive between 120,000 and 180,000 forints. A reform that lifted a 70,000-forint pension to 120,000 while leaving a 125,000-forint pension unchanged would reduce a previous 55,000-forint gap to 5,000 forints.

The article does not dispute the need to help the person receiving 70,000 forints. It argues that the person who worked for 40 years on a low wage and earned a 125,000-forint pension could also reasonably ask what those additional decades of work and contributions meant. That question, it says, concerns trust in the social insurance system rather than resentment toward poorer pensioners.

The pension system therefore has two competing principles. A decent society should not leave older people living on an income below human dignity, but the system should also recognize 20, 30 or 45 years of work and contributions. Problems arise when one principle is pursued at the expense of the other.

The article cites a 2025 OECD comparison showing that every OECD country provides some targeted old-age income protection, while about half also guarantee a minimum pension within contributory systems. In countries with such a minimum, its average level is about one-quarter of average earnings. Hungary’s previous minimum ranked among the lowest in the comparison. The international experience suggests that old-age poverty and benefits earned through work do not necessarily require the same policy instrument.