The number of Hungarians at risk of poverty has decreased by 241,000 over the past two years, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Human Capacities Bence Rétvári told public television M1 on Monday.

Mr. Rétvári said that due to the reduction of utility costs, the number of those struggling with these payments has dropped by one million. He added that the number of those with arrears in mortgage payments has also fallen by 9-10 per cent.

He emphasised that another positive development was that the number of those who could afford a summer vacation has increased by 12 percent since 2013 while the number of those facing difficulties when confronted with unexpected expenditures – such as replacing a broken washing machine – has decreased by 8 per cent.

(Ministry of Human Capacities)