OBJECTIVES: In Western Hungary the number of women with hypertension increased with 21%, the number of patients with ischemic heart problems increased with 46% between 2005 and 2007. The most probable reason of this sudden increase among the life quality factors is the increasing of chronic stress. The rate of chronic stress and the effectiveness of coping were measured between workers from a regional multinational firm with a cross sectional examination in 2008. METHODS: Sampling is representative regarding to the Western Hungarian population, 900 workers were examined with unknown presumption. Data collection was made with Richard Rahe Short Questionnaire about Stress and Coping standard measurement device. The analysis of the data was done with SPSS 17.0 and Epi Info 3.5.1 programs, two sample t-test and logistic regression calculation was made. RESULTS: From the five scales measuring stress women showed alarming signs on three scales (sanitary problems, psychological symptoms and the A- and C-type personal characteristic scales), and men on one scale (the A- and C-type personal characteristic). The difference is significant (p=0.000). From the five scales measuring coping men and women equally showed alarming signs on the social support scale as a deficit. Women fight against stress with less efficiency on the scale of habits related to health (p=0.001). The most defining stress indicating factor in case of man is sanitary problems (OR=2.27, p=0.02), and personal characteristics in case of woman (OR=3.34, p=0.002). The most important influencing factor in case of coping is the sense of coherence (at women OR=7.9, p=0.000, at men OR=4.5, p=0.000). CONCLUSIONS: This survey shows that chronic stress is complex, but it can be examined individually and in teams with proper methods. This topic is current in relation to national health: chronic stress is one of the most important psychological background factors of before time mortality in Hungary.