Hungary's domestic trade sector differed significantly from the cumbersome rationing system that existed in most centrally planned economies. And since Hungary began implementing economic reforms, the production sectors of the economy funneled through the trade sector a far better supply and variety of goods and services than Hungarians had enjoyed earlier. By the late 1980s, Hungary's economy had largely overcome the supply shortages that tormented both producers and consumers in countries with command economies. Still, many Hungarians lived at or below the officially recognized poverty level (see Social Relations in the 1980s , ch. 2).

Data as of September 1989