Two-thirds of Hungarians would welcome refugees fleeing war and persecution

People should be able to take refuge in other countries, including Hungary, to escape from war or persecution. – This is a statement that almost two-thirds of Hungarians agree with, according to an Ipsos survey.

On World Refugee Day, the research institute published the results of its international survey on Monday, according to which support for refugees has changed significantly in Hungary and around the world. And Russia's war against Ukraine in the neighbouring country has played a major role in this.

• In Hungary just as in other countries, the majority of the population (63%) agrees that the country should provide shelter to people fleeing war or persecution, and only 32% reject this idea;
• 56 percent say refugees are treated well in this country and 20 percent say they are treated badly;
• and 47 per cent of Hungarians say the country would be able to take in more refugees – while 46 per cent say the country should put up a 'full' sign at the border.

However, Hungary is still one of the most distrustful countries when it comes to refugees, and the other questions in the survey show that the government's xenophobic anti-refugee policy has been working on public opinion for years.

For example, 58 percent of Hungarians agree that most asylum seekers are not really refugees, but only economic migrants – and only 35 percent think they are genuine refugees; 61 percent think refugees cannot integrate into the society, and only 29 percent think they can; 62 percent think refugees do not make a positive contribution to Hungarian society, and only 27 percent think they can.

The latter aspect, i.e. the impact on society, has also been addressed in detail by the researchers, and here Hungary came at the bottom of the ranking in almost all questions: out of 100 Hungarians

• 34 say refugees have a negative impact on schools;
• 36 say they have a negative impact on the economy and jobs as well;
• 39 say that the cost of living is rising because of them;
• 43 say access to health care is also adversely affected by refugees;
• 47 say that housing is less available because of them;
• 52 say they spread infectious diseases;
• 57 say refugees are increasing the level of crime;
• 58 say even the cleanliness of the area is worse because of them.

You can browse the international report of the survey here.