Under-developed countries have a unique opportunity to develop sustainable growth. I applaud this, despite it being symbolic. Would great to see Hungary invest in things such as green tech and fast trains as it develops.
We have nuclear power plants and stuff.
Even my “underdeveloped” village has now 24/7 electricity, water, sewer system, gas pipelines for heating, CATV and ADSL internet.
So please stop try to prove me, that it is a 3rd world country.
Hungary is not as rich as e.g. Germany, but it's certainly not a backward country; it has indigenous culture that runs universities and is comfortably in the "Very high HDI" bracket for human development.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Dev...
I really wish to know the root cause for persistence of this label. Its not that surprising for US, but surprising amount of western Europeans tend to share this view.
Edit: As a side note, the persistence of that label might be because of the persistence of our societies in isolating from the majority of our countries, ignoring problems, and calling it progress just because a minority lives way better than the average. Unless we stick our heads up, acknowledge the issues, and solve them, then no amount of political correctness will save us.
Relative wealth - it's progressed rapidly but Eastern Europe is still generally poorer than Western.
Cultural differences - Eastern Europe has a reputation for far greater cultural conservatism, religiosity, etc. . Perhaps this reputation is unearned, I don't know. It correlates to "out of date" for many western Europeans though.
Lack of exposure - plenty of people in Western Europe study French, German, English - fewer study Hungarian.
Lack of reference material - for a long time views of Eastern Europe were based entirely on being behind the iron curtain, and we've only had about a generation since then to build material.
Media coverage - Based on the news I know that Hungary is run by a far right would-be dictator, or that Poland wants to cut down the last primeval forest in Europe, etc. and not much else.
That being said I think it's changing. Slovenia is often viewed in a positive light (I adore Ljubljana for instance, and it's the only country I know with real light pollution legislation!) and if nothing else I see Eastern European cities/countries being recommended as holiday destinations more as time goes on.
Though I'm an American who lives in Ireland. Not sure if views are changing in the states; some people seem to think Ireland is still mostly thatched cottages and sheep farms.
People are ignorant and have prejudices, and prejudices don't shake easily. It's not like there aren't similar prejudices about western Europe (Italy is filled with crime! Irish are drunk! etc).
The rise of low cost flight in Europe has thrown down barriers and people travel more, but it's only a tiny minority of the population who decides to travel to eastern european destinations.