1970s and 1980s. Even by the late 1980s, sanitary conditions were generally far from adequate. Only 60% of Hungarian housing had adequate sanitation by 1984, with only 36% of housing having piped water. While most western European economies essentially began to approach the per capita Gross Domestic Product levels of the United States, Hungary's did not, with its per capita GDPs falling significantly below their comparable western European counterparts: The GDP per capita of Hungary, and the Eastern Bloc as a whole, lagged behind that of Western Europe. A contributing factor is that, in contrast to Hungary, the Western European economies, despite being also ravaged from WWII, benefited from the Marshall Plan from the United States, whose economy was relatively unaffected from the war. This significantly differs from the fact that the Soviet Union, heavily war-torn and still recovering from the war, was not in any position to give significant assistance to Hungary. A comparative view with the economies of Latin America, which were not recipients of Marshall Plan show Hungary's GDP per capita figures slightly higher: Legacy According to a 2020 poll conducted by Policy Solutions in Hungary, 54% percent of Hungarians say that most people had a better life under communism, while 31% say most people are better off now. Notes References External links Everyday communism – on life, books and women in communist Hungary, Hungary Review History of the Revolutionary Workers Movement in Hungary: 1944–1962, an English-language Hungarian work published in 1972. The CWIHP at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars Collection on Hungary in the Cold War Communism in Hungary Eastern Bloc Hungary Totalitarian states Territorial evolution of Hungary Modern history of Hungary . . . . Hungary Communist states States and territories disestablished in 1989 States and territories established in 1949 1949 establishments in Hungary 1989 disestablishments in Hungary 20th century in Hungary