ABSTRACT
Hungary is a landlocked country covering about 35,900 square miles in Central Europe. It is surrounded by Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, the Soviet Union, and Austria. Following World War II and the Soviet occupation, Hungary became a socialist state along Soviet lines, in terms of governmental structure, with a planned central economy and the organization of health services. Hungary is experiencing the same trends in the pattern of morbidity and mortality as the more affluent countries of Europe. The structure is similar to that of the Soviet Union and most Eastern European countries. Hungary has one of the highest ratios in Europe of population per physician. The Soviet model of health care adopted by Hungary after World War II provided a structure that over a period of years has provided access to basic health care to a large majority of the population without charge to the user.
