Debrecen4U September 8, 2026

Hajdú-Bihar County Sees Unprecedented Growth in Industrial Production

In July, the volume of industrial production in Hungary increased by 4.7 per cent year on year, according to both the raw and working-day-adjusted indices. Compared with the previous month, seasonally and working-day-adjusted industrial output was 1.7 per cent higher, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) reported on Monday in its first estimate.

KSH has so far only published regional data up to June, but these show that industry in Hajdú-Bihar is racing ahead: in June, industrial production was 85.7 per cent higher than in the same period of the previous year. This was by far the strongest result in the country as Komárom-Esztergom came second, with growth of 44.3 per cent, followed by Budapest at 19.2 per cent and Vas at 13.3 per cent. National growth in the first month of summer was 10.7 per cent.

In Hajdú-Bihar, industrial production increased in every month of the year, and always by a rate significantly above the national average. In January, it was 30.4 per cent, in February 37.4 per cent, in March 72.1 per cent, in April 75.5 per cent and in May 57.6 per cent higher than in the corresponding month of the previous year.

The growth is now evident not only in the percentages but also in the actual scale of industrial production. A few years ago, Hajdú-Bihar was still in the bottom third of the ranking, but it is now surpassed only by Budapest, Pest County, Komárom-Esztergom and Győr-Moson-Sopron. In June, Hajdú-Bihar had already overtaken Borsod and Bács-Kiskun, albeit by a narrow margin. If we add that in 2010 industrial production in Hajdú-Bihar was only one-third of that in Borsod, the scale of the county’s industrial growth becomes truly apparent.

The dynamic growth of Debrecen’s economy is reflected not only in industrial production figures, but also in the Municipality’s revenues from local business tax, which have quadrupled since 2010. The city’s 2026 budget projects HUF 41.5 billion in local business tax revenue, which means that after Budapest, Debrecen now has the highest local business tax revenue in the country, ahead of Győr and Székesfehérvár as well.

Wages also on the rise

Debrecen’s position in terms of earnings has fundamentally changed over the past 15 years. The gross average earnings of full-time employees living in the Debrecen District rose from HUF 203,100 to HUF 743,400 between 2010 and 2025, while the real value of earnings increased by almost 90 per cent. This is stated in a publication by EDC Debrecen, highlighting that for much of the decade Debrecen still lagged behind the national average, but in 2025 it exceeded it by 5.4 per cent and also moved significantly closer to Budapest in terms of earnings.

Source: dehir.hu | Photo credit: Debrecen városa (Facebook)