Page: 5-30
Authors: György Ungváry, Éva Szakmáry and Ibolya Hegedűs

Following the change of social, political and economic system in Hungary (1989), the authors’working group, in a series of studies, analysed the quality of life of Hungarian and Roma unemployed living in one of Hungary’s most disadvantaged areas, in the Ózd microregion of Northern Hungary, based on their national studies of three decades on unemployment and the living conditions of the Roma people, taking into account the health-related quality of life parameters defined by the WHO. It was found that according to the values of the health-related quality of life indicators analysed by the working group (physical and mental health, social situation, relationship to the environment, relationship with the majority society), the quality of life of the micro-region’s unemployed was almost beyond foreseeable distance from even the average quality of life in Hungary, which in some respects (e.g. life expectancy at birth, social conditions, social relationships) was also criticized by the international organizations (OECD, FRA). It was also found that, regardless of their ethnicity, in the Ózd micro-region, the age-dependent physical and mental health of second-generation unemployed, and their fitness for light physical work was significantly better than that of the first-generation unemployed; the in-door and out-door environmental health situation of the second-generation unemployed and their relationship with the majority society, independently of their age, was worse than that of the first generation unemployed. It was identified as a significant and positive change that Hungary had eliminated the mass unemployment appearing at the time of the collapse of the so-called socialist world system, and today it ranks 4th in the unemployment rate of EU28. As a result, the frequency of single-factor and/ or polyaetiological direct health damaging effects connected to the stressor effect of unemployment proved by the authors’ team has been minimized. In the authors’ country-wide studies performed in the early 2000s, combined with family visits and hygiene inspections, in contrast to well-known national or international analyses, the in-door and out-door environmental health situation and the quality of life parameters of public health safety were identified and concluded that the Roma community was differentiated among three population groups of significantly different quality of life. The worst was the quality of life of the Roma living in colonies, then of those living in colony-like arrangements, and the best quality of life was found among the Roma living integrated with the majority society. The age-pyramid of Roma living in colonies and colony-like arrangements was pyramidal, similar to that of the population of the poorest developing countries and differed from the stack-formed age-pyramid of the aging population of the developed countries. The estimated life expectancy at birth of the Hungarian Roma lagged 5-7 years behind that of the European countries of worst position in this respect. It was also found that, compared to the housing conditions of Roma people living in Roma colonies or colony-like arrangements in the early 2000s, there was little or no progress observed during the study performed between 2010 and 2015 in the similar parameters of the Roma unemployed in the Ózd micro-region. In conformity with the spirit of the 2011 programmes elaborated during the Hungarian EU Presidency, the Hungarian Government’s National Social Convergence Strategy and its 2014 update, the authors, based on their own study results, put forward recommendations for immediate corrections of housing conditions and educational level of the people (including the majority of Roma) living in deep poverty (e.g. - based on a hygiene-respected prioritization - elimination of the Roma colonies) as well as for providing school advancement and proper learning conditions (all-day school education, dormitory accommodation on teaching days, closing-up education, and where appropriate, employing Roma speaking teachers). The compulsory kindergarten engagement under realization is considered to be very important in terms of a proper socialization that helps to close up.

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Dokumentum neve	sorrend	Dátum
Ungváry - Health-related		2021-10-08