General population surveys

The activity of the indicator covers the collection and analysis of data from researches conducted among the general adult, youth and school populations as well as the preparation of the respective chapter of the National Report. Data collection and analysis are based on prevalence and incidence rates, patterns of use, characteristics of the users, and attitudes towards drug consumption and drug users. Another task of this field is to collect, analyse and interpret research results conducted among specific groups suck as minorities, homeless or prostitutes.

Regular data collections started at the beginning of the 90’s in Hungary. The first school surveys were conducted among secondary school students in the 11th grade (age of 17) in Budapest in 1992/1993 and later in some counties, as well. These used the methodological recommendations and questionnaire of the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe. In 1995, Hungary joined the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD), and has participated in each ESPAD survey since (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007). Additional data were collected using the ESPAD questionnaire and methodological guidelines in Budapest in the years of the ESPAD surveys and in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2005. It enables to analyse the changes in patterns of use among secondary school students in Budapest between 1992 and 2005.
Hungary has been participating in the Health Behaviour in School Aged Children (HBSC) surveys since 1985 which is a comparative international research series on the health behaviour of school population at the age of 11-15 (incl. 17-year-old population in Hungary). Although this survey does not focus primarily on illicit drug use, the questionnaires of 2002 and 2006 included detailed data on this issue (in the 9th and 11th grade, age of 15 and 17 in Hungary) as well.
The first comparative data collection on a national sample of the adult population (aged from 19 to 65), was conducted in 2001. It used partly the illicit drug-related questions of the EMCDDA and partly the questions included in the GENACIS (Gender, Alcohol and Culture: An International Study) programme. Further surveys were conducted in 2003 and 2007.

Surveys were conducted among the following specific groups in the years:

Homeless (2008)
Persons living with disabilities (2005)
Young Roma people (2004)
Young people in state welfare care (2004)
Boys living in reformatories (2003)
Youth attending electronic music parties (2003)

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