So long as Hungarian income is half of that in western Europe, emigration will not stop, she said.

Of the overall Hungarian working age population, 5.2% live outside Hungary.

This figure places Hungary in the middle of European countries, along with Slovakia, Poland and Estonia. The Romanian figure is highest, at 16.6%.

In the years 2010-16 an average of 2% of Hungarian employees left and 1% returned from abroad.

Emigration was highest in the catering, construction and manufacturing sectors, as well as in health care.