Financial Literacy in Ukraine and Hungary with special regard to the Performance of University Students

Abstract

Abstract

In 2002, the governments of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) formally recognised the importance of financial literacy. It was then that the organisation launched a project to survey financial literacy, which has been called the International Network on Financial Education (OECD/INFE) since 2008. The organisation's 132 member countries take part in regular surveys, each using a uniform methodology. This method has become so popular with researchers that it is used by countries that are not members of the organisation/project. Ukraine is one of them. In this work, the authors compare the results of the Ukrainian study with the Hungarian data, taking advantage of the identity of the methodology. The choice fell on these two countries because the authors had an affiliation in Ukraine, but one of them lives in Hungary, so he has a personal relationship with both countries. The choice of topic was determined by the fact that one of their areas of scientific research is the study of the financial literacy of university students. The OECD published the results of its latest survey in 2020.The report also contains Hungarian data.The resultsshow that the performance of both countriesstudied is close to, but not below, the OECD average; however, they are very close to each other. Nevertheless, the financial cultures of the two countries are significantly different. Ukrainians are more characterized by active management of finances, while Hungarians are attracted to finances above average. In addition to presenting the national results, the authors also compare the performance of Hungarian and Ukrainian university students in financial literacy.

Keywords:

Financial Literacy; University Students; Ukraine; Hungary