The share of spending on this cornerstone of the GND is well below the EU average relative to the GDP. Real expenditures were dramatically reduced. This can partially be explained by the fact that there are fewer and fewer children enrolled in public education each year (as fewer children were born). Yet, the learning outcomes of the Hungarian educational system have also been deteriorating since 2008, where they were not at a high level already, especially for low performers. A grade of 5 would have been given if there had been a substantial improvement in spending (knowing that the learning outcomes in the statistics are not likely to follow straight away at this stage the rating would have not depended on this.) The Green consensus in Hungary is that it expenditures on education should be kept above 5% of the GDP.

Basic IT skills are widely spread in Hungary, but there are serious shortfalls in higher level skills.

The development of the high-tech sector in Hungary has been stalled. There is little innovation, the number of new patent applications is low, along with employment in the sector.