More and more pensioners are emigrating to Hungary.
The reason for this is on the one hand the cost of living – but also politics.
Budapest – More and more retirees are choosing to live abroad.
Particularly popular emigration destinations are countries with significantly lower living costs.
Some seniors can lead a sometimes even luxurious life even with a low pension.
Pension: Lake Balaton as a popular destination for Germans
In Hungary you can also live cheaply compared to Germany.
Real estate, but also the costs for groceries and the like are significantly lower there.
Lake Balaton in particular is a popular destination here.
According to the German pension insurance, a total of 5398 pensions were transferred to Hungary in 2021.
This also applies to the pension of 71-year-old Wilhelm Dörnhöfer and his wife Aline.
They moved to a Hungarian village near Lake Balaton about three years ago, as the
editorial network Germany
(RND)
reports.
Her husband's pension would not have been enough in Germany.
"The cost of living has eaten everything up," she told the newspaper.
They then exchanged their 600 square meter home in the Palatinate for a property in Hungary that was twice as large.
Cost point: 90,000 euros and another 30,000 euros for the renovation.
A huge bargain compared to German real estate prices.
Pensioners in Hungary: living with 1400 euros
With a pension of 1400 euros, the Dörnhöfers get along well in Hungary.
According to data from the Federal Statistical Office, the price level in Hungary is 40.2 percent below that in Germany.
From the money that is available to the couple, they spend around 1000 euros.
And they also treat themselves to a beer, Wilhelm smokes and they have two dogs and a cat, as they explain to the editorial network.
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But not only the costs are a reason for many emigrants to go to Hungary.
It's also about politics.
The German broker Ottmar Heide, who sells real estate on Lake Balaton, explains to the
RND
that 90 percent of his prospects want to go to Hungary for political reasons.
Among them are many corona deniers.
The
Neue Züricher Zeitung
recently described Lake Balaton as a "paradise for right-wing pensioners".
Many who emigrated there no longer felt comfortable in Germany.
One told the
RND
he wanted "to get out of this filthy country." They criticized high taxes, a lack of freedom and the "migrant influx".
(ph)
List of rubrics: © Westend61/Imago