Water and sanitation highlights
Hungary and its population of 9.8 million is located in Eastern Europe, entirely within the Danube drainage basin, with the river flowing from the north to the south; agreements for transboundary cooperation exist with all neighboring countries. The climate is continental with hot summers and cold winters, and although the country has one of Europe’s lowest average rainfall (600 mm per year), per capita water availability is one of the highest. Almost everyone in Hungary is connected to a public water utility, which mainly delivers groundwater treated for geological chemicals. Most people are also connected to a public wastewater utility, in which a large portion of the flow undergoes tertiary treatment, but nevertheless there are some 1,000 villages that are not connected at all. While Hungary is famous for its thermal baths, which also produce energy for residential and industrial heating, three quarters of its water consumption are used for cooling.
Work on SDG 6 and monitoring
The Hungarian Central Statistical Office coordinates the work on SDG monitoring, and has done so by organizing meetings for and sharing information among involved stakeholders, which in turn has shown great commitment. Focus lays on gathering data from the different stakeholders and analyzing underlying methodologies and metadata, to be able to assess data quality and comparability, noting the existence of different types of data from different sources describing the same phenomenon.
Data are synthesized and used for policy- and decision-making, including on regional and territorial development, as well as for planning and education.
Learn more about their work by listening to the interview below and by viewing the poster to the right.
Involved institutions
In addition to the Central Statistical Office, other involved entities include the Ministry of interior, General Directorate of Water Management, Ministry of Agriculture, National Institute of Environmental Health and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
