Hungary

Hungary: Country Intelligence Briefing

Hungary's fact bundle shows a European Union economy carrying comparatively high government debt, moderate defense spending, a governance profile V-Dem v15 places in the middle of its scales, and energy production figures that are a decade stale.

Economy and Fiscal Position

GDP was $222.7 billion in 2024, with GDP per capita of $23,292.33 the same year, both per World Bank WDI. Population was 9,562,065 in 2024, per World Bank WDI. Government debt stood at 77.9 percent of GDP in 2026, per IMF WEO — the highest debt ratio among the fiscal figures in this briefing series so far. Reserves were $43.7 billion in 2025, per IMF IFS.

Defense Posture

Military expenditure reached $5.0 billion in 2025, per SIPRI Milex, equivalent to 2.037 percent of GDP under SIPRI's own GDP series for 2025 — a ratio that should not be checked against the separately sourced World Bank GDP figure above. Active personnel stood at 32,000 in 2022, per COW NMC, with a CINC score of 0.0012806589 the same year, also per COW NMC.

Governance

V-Dem v15 scores Hungary's electoral democracy at 0.421 and liberal democracy at 0.315 for 2025, with a higher state capacity score of 0.605 the same year.

Energy

Primary energy consumption was 0.9389 exajoules in 2024, and electricity generation was 40.24 terawatt-hours in 2025, both per Our World in Data (Energy). Oil production was 12.577 terawatt-hours and gas production was 18.395 terawatt-hours, both dated 2016, per Our World in Data (Energy) — nearly a decade old and should not be treated as current production levels.

Data Gaps

Both oil and gas production figures are nine years stale and likely understate or otherwise misstate Hungary's current hydrocarbon output; they should be read as historical reference points only. The active-personnel and CINC figures are from 2022. The milex-to-GDP ratio is computed against SIPRI's own 2025 GDP series, not the World Bank's 2024 GDP figure cited above, and the two should not be combined.

Sources: World Bank WDI; IMF WEO; IMF IFS; SIPRI Milex; COW NMC; V-Dem v15; Our World in Data (Energy).