This country profile benchmarks recent trends in entrepreneurship and self-employment for women, youth, seniors, immigrants and people with disabilities in Hungary relative to the European Union average. It also presents recent policy developments and current policy issues related to inclusive entrepreneurship.
The Missing Entrepreneurs 2023
Policies for Inclusive Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment
The share of people working on a start-up or managing a new business (i.e. TEA rate) was above the European Union (EU) over the period 2018-22 (10% vs. 7%). The share was also above the EU average for women (8% vs. 6%), youth (18-30 years old) (13% vs. 9%) and seniors (50-64 years old) (6% vs. 4%). However, if everyone was as active as 30-49 year old men in business creation, there would be an additional 245 000 early-stage entrepreneurs. Of these, nearly 80% would be women. While the share of people starting a business because they could not find a job was slightly more common in Hungary than the EU average (25% vs. 20%), the share was particularly high among seniors (37% vs. 27%). The self‑employment rate increased slightly in recent years but remained below the EU average over the past decade (12% vs. 13% in 2022). However, the self-employed were more likely to have employees relative to the EU average (35% vs. 32%), notably seniors (40% vs. 35%) in 2022.
Recent developments in entrepreneurship policy and support include revisions to the strategic policy framework, the introduction of new support schemes, changes to the regulatory and institutional frameworks (e.g. deregulation) and the introduction of an information portal. A revision of the SME Strategy was launched in 2022, which explicitly references youth and women entrepreneurs among the target groups. In addition to the national strategy, several policy initiatives were also introduced, including new schemes for start-ups by youth entrepreneurs and senior entrepreneurs, networking schemes tailored for women entrepreneurs, and new entrepreneurship finance measures. There have also been changes to the tax policies for SME and the self-employed, aiming to simplify taxation procedures and introduce more efficient work incentives.
There is a strong emphasis on improving access to finance for entrepreneurs, especially for women and youth entrepreneurs. The largest entrepreneurship support measure is the Youth Guarantee Scheme that targets youth entrepreneurs, notably NEETs (youth who are not in education, employment or training). The programme was co-financed by the European Structural Funds and European Regional Development Fund for the period 2017 to 2023. The programme has offered grants to about 5 200 young people (less than 30 years old) and provided support to more than 5 600 people.
Note: In Panel a, the data for the EU median for SME lending excludes the following countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Malta and Romania. The EU median for the entrepreneurship skills indicator excludes: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia and Malta. In Panels b-d, the data for the EU average refers to a population-weighted average and excludes Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia and Malta. Please see Chapter 10 for detailed notes on the figures.
Source: (Eurostat, 2023; GEM, 2023; OECD, 2023). Please see Chapter 10 for full citations.