Official language: Hungarian
Currency: Forint (HUF)
Calling
Code: 36
Time Zone: UTC +1
Emergency numbers:
Ambulance: 104
Mobile: 112
Police: 107
Fire: 105
Hungary is a country in Central Europe, in the
middle of the Carpathian Basin. It has been a parliamentary republic
since 1989. It is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the
northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south,
Croatia and Slovenia to the southwest, and Austria to the west. Its
population has declined to less than 10 million in the 21st century.
Its official language is Hungarian, which is the largest of the
Uralic languages. Its capital and most populous city is Budapest.
The country is a member of the European Union, NATO, the OECD,
the World Bank, and the United Nations, among others, and is part of
the Schengen area, part of the Southeast European Cooperation
Organization, and one of the founders of the so-called Visegrád
Cooperation organization. The country is a popular tourist
destination in Europe, with 16.3 million foreign visitors in 2015.
The country is home to one of the world's largest thermal water
reserves, one of the world's largest thermal lakes, the largest lake
in Central Europe and the largest grassland plain in Central Europe.
It maintains a universal social and pension insurance system for
its citizens, with partly free healthcare (with the obligation to
pay contributions), and free primary and secondary education. Higher
education is subject to tuition fees, but can also be accessed free
of charge with scholarships. Hungary's positions in international
rankings can be considered good. In 2024, it was ranked 44th in the
world (24th in the EU) according to the Numbeo "quality of life
index". It is ranked 23rd in the so-called "Good Country Index"
(which takes into account the global contribution of a given country
to certain areas, such as science, culture, peace processes, climate
protection, etc.). It ranks 40th in the “inequality-adjusted” Human
Development Index, 40th in the “Human Development Index” (WD), 35th
in the world in 2023 in the “Global Innovation Index”, 18th in the
world in the “Global Peace Index” according to the Australian
IEP(WD) 2023 report, and 40th in the world as the “safest” country
according to Numbeo 2024. In the 2024 Liveability Index, which takes
into account a number of aspects such as stability, general
satisfaction and rights, it ranks 50th among the countries in the
world, behind Turkey and Slovakia.
The situation is less good
in terms of economic living standards and the rule of law. The
average net salary and minimum wage are among the lowest in the EU.
According to Eurostat and the GKI, it became the poorest country in
the EU in 2023.
In 2022, the country was moderately corrupt
in global terms, while it was the most corrupt in the European
Union. In 2022, it was ranked 77th in Transparency International's
Corruption Perceptions Index, which ranks 180 countries. According
to the data, corruption in Hungary increased during the 2010s. In
terms of press freedom, it continuously slipped down the
international rankings during the 2010s, and in the 2020 report of
Reporters Without Borders, it was ranked 89th among the countries of
the world.
The beginnings of Hungarian statehood date back to
the coronation of King St. Stephen. Since then, it has been known in
history as the Kingdom of Hungary for more than 9 centuries. Its
current borders roughly correspond to the borders set in 1920, in
the Treaty of Trianon, which ended World War I. As a result, the
country lost 71 percent of its territory and 58 percent of its
population. In the hope of revision during the Horthy era, and under
the Szálasi government, the country entered and remained a
belligerent in World War II, but despite more or less successful
battles and heavy losses, it did not achieve a lasting breakthrough,
and the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty established today's borders. After
the war, the country was in the Soviet Union's occupation zone.
Until the change of regime, Hungary was at the center of world
politics twice: first in connection with the 1956 revolution, and
secondly in 1989, when the East Germans were allowed to leave for
the West during the Pan-European Picnic.
Since 2010, there
has been a significant decline in the level of democracy. In 2020,
it received a similar classification to countries such as Brazil,
Indonesia, or Albania in Europe. The 2020 and 2022 Brussels Rule of
Law Reports revealed a series of problems. In 2022, the European
Parliament adopted a resolution by a large majority stating that
Hungary is no longer a full-fledged democracy, but an electoral
autocracy, a hybrid regime. The country is also facing a serious
demographic crisis.
Central Hungary is basically Budapest and its surroundings. In addition to Budapest itself, the region includes Szentendre with its Baroque center and open-air museum, Esztergom, dominated by its classical cathedral, Ráckeve with its Serbian church, the huge royal palace and park in Gödöllő, and much more. Although Central Hungary is primarily about cultural attractions, there is still plenty of room for nature. For example, the region is home to the fairly large Duna-Ipoll National Park with marked hiking trails.
Esztergom
Gödöllő
Budaörs
Cegléd
Dunakeszi
Érd
Szentendre
Szigetszentmiklós
Vác
Lake Balaton is the largest lake in Central Europe and one of the largest in Europe in general. It is also the most popular beach holiday destination in Hungary. An unusual cultural landscape has developed around the lake, which, on the one hand, has enough resorts and a diverse leisure industry, and on the other, enough historical and cultural monuments. The largest and oldest city on the shores of Balaton is Kesztel, whose baroque center still retains traces of provincialism. This is what Balaton was like in the 19th century, before the era of mass tourism.
Siófok
Keszthely
Tapolca
Balatonfüred
Marcali
Balatonalmádi
Fonyód
Hévíz
Gyenesdiás
Vonyarcvashegy
Zalakaros
Transdanubia is the western part of Hungary, excluding Lake Balaton. It is the most industrialized part of the country, relatively densely populated, with many historic towns such as Székesfehérvár, Győr with its Benedictine monastery at Pannonhalma, and Pécs. The north is dominated by rolling hills, while the south is home to the Duna-Drava National Park, notable for its lakes.
Győr
Körmend
Kőszeg
Mosonmagyaróvár
Nagykanizsa
Sárvár
Sopron
Szombathely
Zalaegerszeg
Festetics
Palace
Pannonhalma
Abbey
Northern Hungary is covered in hills, cliffs and forests, with castles, thermal springs and vineyards – for example, this is the part of the country where Tokaj wines are produced. The two largest and most interesting cities in the region are Miskolc and Eger. Between these cities, the Bükk National Park sits on limestone cliffs, and in the west of the region is the traditional village of Hollokő, which has been turned into an open-air museum.
Balassagyarmat
Eger
Gyöngyös
Hatvan
Kazincbarcika
Mezőkövesd
Miskolc
Ózd
Salgótarján
Aggtelek National Park
Bükk National Park
Boldogkő Castle
Diósgyőr
Castle
Hollókő
Balmazújváros
Debrecen
Hajdúböszörmény
Hajdúszoboszló
Jászberény
Karcag
Nyíregyháza
Szolnok
Törökszentmiklós
Southern Great Plain
Baja
Békéscsaba
Gyula
Hódmezővásárhely
Kecskemét
Kiskunfélegyháza
Kiskunhalas
Orosháza
Szeged
Central Transdanubia
Székesfehérvár
Tata
Tatabánya
Várpalota
Veszprém
Bory Castle
Csesznek
Castle
Kinizsi
Castle
Sümeg Castle
Southern Transdanubia
Mohács
Paks
Pécs
Szekszárd
Szigetvár
Siklos
Castle
Simontornya
Castle
Hungary has preserved architectural monuments from various eras
- the Roman Empire (Aquincum in Budapest and Gortium in the city
of Tac), medieval, Romanesque and Gothic, remnants of the
Turkish rule (Budapest and Pecs again), Serbian (Rackeve), but
most of all Baroque and Art Nouveau.
The country has ten
national parks, two of which - Hortobágy (steppe landscapes of
southern Hungary) and Aggtelek (karst landscape with caves) -
are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Although Hungary
does not have high mountains or spectacular waterfalls, its
western and northern parts with hilly landscapes are beautiful
and interesting, especially along the Danube or on Lake Balaton,
while the southeastern, steppe part, on the contrary, is
monotonous and remarkable for its scale.
UNESCO World
Heritage Sites
Budapest: The Banks of the Danube, Buda Castle
Hill and Andrassy Avenue
Historic Village of Hollókő and its
Surroundings
Aggtelek Cave District - Slovak Karst
The
Thousand-Year-Old Benedictine Monastery of Pannonhalma and its
Natural Surroundings
Hortobágy National Park
Early
Christian Burial Site in Pécs (Roman Sopiana)
Fertő-Neusiedler See Cultural Landscape
Historical Cultural
Landscape of the Tokaj Wine Region
Citizens from Germany, Austria and Switzerland only need an identity
card to enter Hungary. Vaccinations are not required for entry.
By train
In international rail traffic, Eurocity trains (EC) connect
Budapest with Prague, Berlin and Hamburg. The Railjet (RJ) of the
Austrian Federal Railways runs several times a day between Vienna and
Budapest, and also offers direct connections from southern Germany and
Switzerland. The ÖBB Nightjet also runs from Austria and Germany to
Budapest. These train connections each end at Budapest Keleti pályaudvar
(Eastern Station). This station is also the most important for IC/EC
trains.
There are two other large train stations in Budapest,
Déli (Southern Station) and Nyugati pályaudvar (West Station). Trains
continue into the country from these stations. When changing trains via
Budapest (similar to Paris or Moscow), you often have to change
stations, as there is no main station, but rather different stations for
the respective directions. Coming from the west, it is often better to
change trains directly in Kelenföld.
Other important rail hubs
that are easy to reach from abroad and that offer good connections to
the Hungarian hinterland are:
Sopron (hourly regional trains from
Vienna and Wiener Neustadt)
Győr and Hegyeshalom (regional and
express trains from Vienna)
Nyíregyháza (long-distance trains
from Ukraine)
Zalaegerszeg (long-distance trains from Zagreb)
While air-conditioned open-plan and compartment carriages are mainly
used for international travel, non-air-conditioned passenger carriages
still predominate for domestic travel.
The long-limited
connections with Slovakia were improved on the routes Lučenec
(Hungarian: Losonc) - Hatvan and Košice (Kassa) - Hidasnémeti by
introducing 1- or 2-hour intervals in the summer. On the route between
Lučenec - Fiľakovo (Fülek) - Salgótarján - Hatvan there are connections
to Zvolen (Zólyom), Rimavská Sobota (Rimaszombat) and Rožňava (Rozsnyó).
By bus
Hungary is served by various bus companies. At the
Budapest Nepliget Autobus Station long-distance bus station, buses to
Austria, Switzerland and Germany run by the long-distance bus companies
Flixbus, ArdaTur, Fudeks, RegioJet/ Student Agency and Regiojet. Another
long-distance bus stop in Budapest is Budapest ZAST MHD (address: busu
901, Könyves Kalmaku, AN Nepliget). Busliniensuche.de (commercial)
offers an overview. Travelers from northern Germany can travel much more
cheaply than through Austria if they change to Eastern European lines in
Prague.
By boat
It is possible to travel from Vienna via
Bratislava to Budapest by hydrofoil during the season. The Vienna -
Budapest route costs 65 EUR (89 EUR with return trip). Detailed
information is available from: MAHART Passnave Budapest Tel. +36 1
484-4010, Fax +36 1 318-7740. The berth is in Budapest at Pontoon 2 in
Belgrád rakpart 22.
A car ferry across the Danube (up to 3.5 t)
connects 15 Neszmély (47° 43′ 58″ N 18° 20′ 42″ E) (HUN) with 16 Radvaň
nad Dunajom (47° 44′ 46″ N 18° 21′ 59″ E) (SLO), known in Hungarian as
Dunaradvány.
On the road
Driving license
Citizens of the EU
and Switzerland can drive in Hungary with their driving license; an
international driving license is not required.
Motor vehicle
insurance
Liability insurance for cars or motorcycles is mandatory.
However, German, Austrian or Swiss license plates are sufficient as
proof. A green insurance card is recommended but not mandatory.
Behavior in the event of an accident
If an accident results in
personal injury, it is mandatory to notify the police. This is also
advisable in the event of accidents involving property damage in order
to settle the claim. The police can be reached throughout Hungary on the
police emergency number 107.
Traffic regulations
The blood
alcohol limit in Hungary is 0.0 per mille!
Mobile phones may only
be used with a hands-free system.
Outside built-up areas, it is
mandatory to switch on dipped headlights even during the day, and seat
belts must be worn in both the front and rear seats. You must carry a
warning triangle, high-visibility vest and first aid kit. At night, when
parking, the parking lights must be switched on if public lighting is
inadequate. Drivers and car passengers, cyclists and, since 2008,
pedestrians are required to wear high-visibility vests when walking
outside built-up areas at night or when visibility is poor. Failure to
do so can result in a fine of up to €120.
Police officers can
collect fines immediately.
Speed limit
Vehicles of any kind
may drive at a maximum of 50 km/h within residential areas and built-up
areas. Cars without trailers and motorcycles may drive 130 km/h on
motorways, 110 km/h on expressways and 90 km/h on other country roads.
Trucks, buses and cars with trailers may drive 80 km/h, 70 km/h and 70
km/h respectively.
Vignette requirement
For motorways (M1, M2,
M3, M5, M6 and M7) a motorway vignette (1-, 10-day, monthly or annual
vignette) is required, which can be purchased online, at border stations
and at Hungarian petrol stations. A vignette for one day costs HUF
2570—5150, the 10-day vignette for cars costs 6400#x202F;HUF or 10360p.
m., for motorcycles 3200HUF or 5180 p. m. (as of Jan 2024) The license
plate is registered when you buy it. You can also get vignettes from the
ÖAMTC at the Nickelsdorf border crossing; you must present your vehicle
registration document. More information at www.autobahn.hu. When you buy
the vignette, the license plate is often registered incorrectly, so you
should check the data carefully. The German-based debt collection agency
Ungarische Autobahn Inkasso GmbH collects the corresponding additional
charges, plus penalties that quadruple if you do not pay within 60 days.
It therefore makes sense to keep receipts for longer. (as of 2024)
Other
Fuel prices are slightly cheaper in Hungary than in
Germany. The bypass motorway around Budapest (M0) has now been completed
and is mostly open to traffic on three lanes in each direction. It
should be noted that the access to the M5 has been moved a bit further
south and is now combined with the airport motorway, which is also
called M0. Hungary's 30,000km long road network allows you to reach all
towns via paved roads. Motorways are marked with an M, international
roads with an E.
By plane
Hungary's international airports
are:
1 Budapest Airport (Budapest Liszt Ferenc nemzetközi repülőtér,
IATA: BUD), 1185 Budapest, BUD Nemzetközi Repülőtér. Tel.: +36 (0)1 296
70 00 . Ferihegy; in central Hungary, by far the largest airport in the
country, numerous direct flights from German-speaking countries, for
example with Austrian, Easyjet, Eurowings, Lufthansa, Ryanair, Swiss and
Wizz Air.
2 Debrecen (IATA: DEB), Debrecen, Repülőtéri út 12, 4030.
Tel.: +36 204 67 98 99, E-Mail: info@debrecenairport.com . in the
northeast of the Great Plain, direct flights from Munich with Lufthansa
Regional. Feature: free WiFi.
3 Hévíz–Balaton (IATA: SOB) .
Sármellék; on Lake Balaton, only seasonally with Lufthansa.
For
trips to the northwest of Hungary, a flight to Vienna or Bratislava is
also an option.
Hungary is quite compact and has a dense transport network, not
inferior in this indicator to, for example, the Czech Republic. You can
go to any Hungarian city from Budapest for one day, if you want,
although you can travel around the country in circles or any complex
twists and turns with the same success.
Route planners: MAV
(mainly trains) and menetrendek.hu (trains + buses, including local
ones). Both have an English-language interface.
Hungary has excellent rail service, not inferior to the Czech and
even German. Most trains belong to the state-owned company MÁV (Magyar
Államvasutak), whose website is translated into English in places and
contains a lot of useful information. Several lines in the west of the
country, around the cities of Sopron and Szombathely, belong to the
regional operator GySEV (Raaberbahn), created mainly to coordinate the
interaction of Hungarian and Austrian railways. For a traveler who does
not plan to go to Austria, there are no fundamental differences between
MAV and GySEV.
There are three types of trains - suburban (Sz =
Személyvonat), express (Gy = Gyorsvonat) and "improved express" (IC):
Suburban trains run mainly on small lines. Closer to the capital,
these are modern diesel and electric trains similar to German ones, and
in the provinces, old Hungarian trains are more common, the most common
form of which is a lonely carriage that sadly rolls along a winding
line, literally bouncing on the joints. There is little comfort in these
trains, but there is more than enough romance. Speeds are relatively
low, 35-40 km/h on average.
Express trains run on main lines,
developing much higher speeds: 80-100 km/h on average. Usually these are
old carriages, divided into eight-seat compartments. Less often - open
carriages, like in a commuter train.
IC trains are the same express
trains, but named and with improved carriages, where there are normal
seats, sockets, tables, and often Wi-Fi. Many express trains contain IC
and regular carriages; you have to pay extra for travel in a more
comfortable carriage. There is also a division into first and second
class, which affects the price to a greater extent than comfort. The IC
category also includes high-speed Austrian RailJet trains, running
between Budapest and Vienna. However, they look much more modern than
their Hungarian "brothers".
The price of a ticket depends on the
distance, at a rate of 18 Ft/km, which is slightly lower on longer
distances. In addition, you will have to pay extra for the fast train
(called Gyorsvonati pótjegy), from 150 Ft on a short distance to 300-400
Ft on longer distances, and you may also have to pay extra for the IC
train, i.e. buy a ticket with a “reservation” (seat reservation), which
costs 450 Ft. The whole system is quite confusing, since only the
reservation is always on a separate line on the ticket (it indicates the
carriage and seat number, i.e. the ticket is only valid for a specific
train). The surcharge for the fast train is included in the ticket price
and is valid for 24 hours (like the ticket itself), so it is difficult
to recognize. Moreover, the surcharge for the express train is removed
on some sections, i.e. the train can be express, but not require an
additional payment (this has almost no correlation with the speed of the
train itself).
When buying a ticket, it is best to tell the
cashier where you want to go and on which train: then they will most
likely sell you the right ticket, clarifying, if necessary, whether you
want to travel in an IC or a regular carriage. Doubts may overtake you
already on the platform, since the arrival of IC trains is always
accompanied by announcements (translated to be sure into English and
German) about the need to buy an InterCity supplementary (IC Zuschlag),
that is, to reserve a seat. In fact, you don’t have to listen to the
announcements, but it is worth looking at the carriages: there may be a
sign on the door about the surcharge for IC. If there is none, this is a
carriage without seats, and no additional payment is required in it.
Ticket offices are available at every station, open from morning
until late evening. Bank cards are accepted for payment. Cashiers and
conductors generally do not speak foreign languages, and it is easiest
to communicate with a piece of paper.
Schedules and a route
planner are available on the website of the Hungarian Railways (MAV).
You can also use the Deutsche Bahn website, which even shows delays for
some trains. The MAV website also has a useful function for the current
train position - this is a whole map (quite interesting in itself),
which shows all the trains with their current schedule. Usually, trains
run strictly according to schedule, but delays also happen and for
express trains they can be up to half an hour.
Children under 6
travel for free, from 6 to 14 - 50% discount. Families with children
under 18, young people under 26 on weekends - 33%
Bus service in Hungary is no worse than the railway, although it is
organized completely differently.
All long-distance buses belong
to the company VOLÁNBUSZ, whose website has schedules and ticket sales,
but these are not the buses that you will actually encounter, since they
all duplicate trains in one way or another and are usually designed to
take residents of some remote place directly to the capital.
When
traveling through the Hungarian outback, suburban buses belonging to
local companies are more in demand. A route planner will help you figure
them out; it does not know the movement of these buses down to every
small stop, but, in general, it allows you to understand what buses
there are, how often they run, and what the travel time is.
There
are bus stations in every more or less significant city. They are in
fairly good condition and usually have a recent refurbishment, although,
with rare exceptions, they offer passengers nothing more than a waiting
room and a board with current departures. Most bus stations have an
information window open during the day. Less common are ticket offices,
which, however, do nothing more than pre-sale. They do not sell tickets
for suburban routes. These tickets must be taken from the driver -
however, there are no restrictions: it is not forbidden to ride
standing, and this is common during rush hour.
The schedule is
posted on each platform in separate sections and includes only those
buses that depart from this particular platform. Usually there is also a
general schedule, hanging somewhere in the area of the waiting room
(sometimes outside the building, not inside), but it is better to check
it with more up-to-date schedules on the platforms. Hungarian bus
schedules always include not only final destinations, but also large
intermediate ones: this means that one bus appears in the schedule
several times.
Hungarian is a Finno-Ugric language that is not related to the
languages of neighboring countries and is rather difficult for German
speakers to learn. Nevertheless, as in other countries, it is of course
very much appreciated if travelers at least try to speak a few words of
Hungarian. Due to the history and the large flow of visitors from
Austria and Germany, German is very widespread, especially in the
hospitality industry. Tourist information boards are often
trilingual/quadlingual (Hungarian, English, German and increasingly also
Russian). In the larger cities and tourist regions (e.g. Lake Balaton),
you can get by without any problems with German or English. Off the
beaten track, basic knowledge of Hungarian is of course an advantage,
but even here many people speak at least one foreign language, which
means rudimentary communication is always possible.
Regional
language groups include Croatian and Slovakian. In the border area with
Austria, many people speak very good German.
The currency is the Hungarian forint (Ft, HUF), which comes in
banknotes of 500, 1000, 2000, 5000 and 10000 Ft, as well as coins of 5,
10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 Ft. The last two are made with an eye on other
European countries, resembling 1 euro and 2 euros respectively. The
forint is one of the weakest European currencies, with an exchange rate
of about 314 forints per 1 euro.
Currency is exchanged at street
exchange offices and banks. Almost every city has at least one exchange
office, but the smaller the city, the less likely it is that this
exchange office will be open on weekends. Banks are open Monday through
Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and exchange offices can be open until 6
p.m. or 7 p.m. The exchange rate is usually fair, but in Budapest it is
worse than in the provinces, and in the center of Budapest there are
openly fraudulent exchange offices: be careful. They exchange dollars
and euros, it is also usually not a problem to exchange Czech crowns and
Romanian lei, but Serbian dinars or Croatian kunas are not accepted
everywhere.
Payment in euros is possible, but not everywhere.
Owners of private boarding houses or souvenir sellers will certainly
accept euros from you at the rate they deem necessary, but in the
official sphere you can only pay in euros at railway ticket offices at a
not very favorable (although not hopeless) rate of 300 forints for 1
euro. In the western part of the country, euros are accepted more often,
but in a remote province somewhere in the east, the chances of paying in
euros are close to zero.
Hungary is a cheap country by European standards, and on the Eastern European scale it is not the cheapest, but not the most expensive either. Public transport costs are unlikely to exceed 2000-3000 Ft per day, unless you travel across the country first class. A cup of coffee should not cost more than 400 Ft, a good dinner in a restaurant will cost you 3000-3500 Ft, and set meals cost from 800 to 1300 Ft. Prices are slightly higher in Budapest. The most significant costs are for accommodation. Rarely does a hotel offer single rooms for less than €35 (10,000 Ft) per night, and double rooms, accordingly, for less than €45-50, but there are more and more apartments and other private establishments with lower prices.
Many specialties in Hungary, such as the famous goulash or paprika
chicken with dumplings, are based on red paprika powder, green peppers,
onions and tomatoes. A common misconception is that gulyás is the dish
that is served as "goulash" in Germany. In fact, gulyás is more of a
"goulash soup", while the equivalent of "goulash" in Hungary is pörkölt
or paprikás. Incidentally, "Szeged goulash" is largely unknown in
Hungary and does not originate from the city of Szeged. Other typical
dishes are soups such as fish soup or Újházy chicken soup. Hungary is
also known for its salamis and Debrecen sausage (which does not come
from Debrecen).
A legacy of the Habsburg era is the variety of
pastries and cakes (desszert, sütemények or torta), which are
particularly characteristic of Budapest's coffee house culture. These of
course include pancakes (palacsinta), the Hungarian version of pancakes,
e.g. with nut cream (“Gundel palacsinta”), jam, curd cheese (quark) or
sour cherries; as well as curd noodles, various types of strudel
(rétes), pogácsa, Schomlauer dumplings (Somlói galuska) or Vargabéles
(shoemaker's strudel).
Lángos The hearty, traditional bread
specialty, Lángos, from Hungary is also very popular. The snack Lángos,
which is well known in Hungary, has a long history. Experts even assume
that the yeast dough flatbread goes hand in hand with the invention of
bread. Similar to bread, the idea arose to prepare the flatbread in hot
fat and to experiment with different variations. The result is
impressive - Lángos is now very popular not only in Hungary, but also in
many other countries such as Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, the
Czech Republic and Slovakia. The toppings are traditionally chosen to be
hearty. No matter where you go, Lángos can now be found on the menu
everywhere.
Typical drinks are wine (especially Tokaj), beer
(e.g. Dreher, Aranyászok, Soproni), sparkling wine (Törley), various
fruit schnapps and Zwack Unicum.
In Hungarian restaurants, a
10-20% tip is customary.
At the beginning of July, the Apricot Festival takes place in
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén at Boldogkö Castle. Jams, juices and pálinka from
the local distillery made from Göncer apricots are on offer.
On
August 20, the traditional Lecsófesztivál takes place in Balatonkenese.
On the second weekend in September, the perfect cauldron goulash is
sought in Szolnok. The Goulash Festival is one of the largest events in
Hungary, where traditional cauldron goulash is prepared every year.
In mid-September, the Paprika Festival is held in Kalocsa.
In all of Hungary, you can call 104 for emergency services,
ambulances and accident reports. The international emergency number 112
can also be used throughout the country.
Hungary is generally a
safe country. Crime is at or below the European average; the usual
security precautions are sufficient. However, in recent years,
politicians and certain media have been using harsher rhetoric against
certain groups of people (including homosexuals, Jews or Sinti and
Roma). Violent attacks against real or perceived members of such groups
can occur. You should also avoid displaying certain symbols (such as a
rainbow flag) too prominently.
The European health insurance card is valid. Statutory health insurance and emergency treatment in hospital are then fully covered. Co-payments for dentists or for medication are higher as a percentage, see the information sheet on holidays in Hungary.
Since mid-March 2014, a law has been in force in Hungary according to
which private individuals may no longer be photographed without their
consent. This ban also applies to photos that are not published.
However, public figures (politicians) may still be photographed without
their consent, and the same applies to crowds.
Photography with
drones has been regulated by the state in Hungary since 2021. Drones
belonging to commercial users must be registered beforehand. Private
devices that do not exceed a maximum take-off weight of 120 grams, are
not equipped with a data recording device and cannot move more than 100
meters away from a remote-controlled pilot are exempt from registration
as toys.
Telephone code from abroad +36 followed by the regional code-local number. Within Hungary: Non-local calls area code 06 then the regional code-ln.
The Hungarians' self-name differs greatly from the foreign names for
Hungary. The term magyar (pronounced /madjar/ from Hungarian magyar
[ˈmɒɟɒr]; formerly magyeri) appears in Islamic sources as early as the
9th and 10th centuries and is probably a compound of magy (< Ugric
*mańćε = "human, man, race") and er(i) (also "human, man, race"). The
name initially referred to only one of seven semi-nomadic tribes that
undertook robbery raids in Europe (as far as the Pyrenees) in the 9th
and early 10th centuries. These tribes were called Megyer (Magyar),
Tarján, Jenő, Kér, Keszi, Kürt-Gyarmat and Nyék; they are also known by
the tribal name hétmagyar. Towards the end of the 10th century, the
Magyar tribe - that is, the descendants of Árpád - managed to unite the
other tribes under their rule. From then on, they can be referred to as
Magyars.
The name "Hungary" probably came into the other European
languages from Slavic. The Slavic word can be traced back to the
Bolgaro-Turkic tribal name onogur (on = "ten" + ogur = "tribe"), which
arose because the ancestors of the Hungarians lived in close contact
with the Onogurs in the 5th and 6th centuries. The "H-" in the Latin
hungarus (and thus also in some other languages) arose because the name
was mistakenly equated with the Huns (Hunni).
The Kingdom of Hungary, which existed with changing borders from 1001
to 1946, is called Magyar Királyság in Hungarian, since magyar is used
in Hungarian as a name for the state and also as a name for the people.
Today's Hungary is called Magyarország (German: Ungarland) in the
national language. The adjective "Magyarisch" is derived from magyar in
German. In most languages of the world - including German - the same
names are used for the country and its inhabitants; they come from the
Latin term hungarus. This name also found its way into English and
French, for example in the form of the country names "Hungary" and
"Hongrie". In Romanian, the kingdom and the current republic are called
Regatul Ungariei or Republica Ungaria or, for short, Ungaria (Hungary)
and in Ukrainian Королівство Угорщина (Koroliwstwo Uhorschtschyna) or,
for short, Угорщина (Uhorschtschyna).
Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats
and Serbs who lived in multi-ethnic Hungary or partly until 1918,
however, differentiate between "Hungarian" and "Magyar" when referring
to their state and people. For the Hungarian part of the former
multi-ethnic state of Austria-Hungary, terms based on hungarus are used:
Uhorsko (Slovak), Ogrska (Slovene) and Ugarska/Угарска
(Croatian/Serbian). However, for the state that was created after the
Treaty of Trianon in 1920, the names are derived from the ethnic term
Magyars: Maďarsko (Slovak), Madžarska (Slovene) and Mađarska/Мађарска
(Croatian/Serbian).
Until 2012, the official full form was the
Republic of Hungary (Hungarian: Magyar Köztársaság).
The history of Hungary covers the events in the Pannonian Plain up to
the conquest of the land by the Magyars at the end of the 9th century
and their history from their origins to the Kingdom of Hungary and
today's Hungary within the European Union.
After the end of the
threat to Central and Western Europe by the Magyar cavalry armies after
the Battle of Lechfeld, the nomadic Magyars consolidated and settled in
the Pannonian Plain south and west of the Carpathian arc following
Christianization and the founding of the Kingdom of Hungary. In the 12th
century a personal union with Croatia began, and Bosnia and the small
Wallachia were also under Hungarian rule for a long time. Under Matthias
Corvinus Hungary reached its greatest extent, and eastern Austria,
Moravia and Silesia were briefly Hungarian.
In the Battle of
Mohács in 1526 against the Ottomans, Hungary lost its independence with
the death of King Louis II and a large part of the nobility. More than
two thirds of the country became Ottoman, including Transylvania as a
vassal of the Porte. The rest of Royal Hungary, consisting of a narrow
strip in the west, Upper Hungary and western Croatia, fell to the
Habsburgs as an inheritance. Hungary remained a battlefield between the
Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy for a long time. Large areas
were depopulated as a result, and some areas were later repopulated by
German and Serbian settlers.
After the Second Siege of Vienna by
the Turks in 1683, the Habsburg army managed to reconquer Ottoman
Hungary with German and Polish support. There were repeated lengthy,
ultimately unsuccessful uprisings against Habsburg rule, such as the
Kuruc uprisings or the revolution of 1848/49. Due to the external
weakness of the Austrian Empire, Emperor Franz Josef was forced to enter
into a compromise with Hungary in 1867. As part of Austria-Hungary, the
country was granted a great deal of independence, but was a multi-ethnic
empire, as the Magyars only made up about half of the population. After
the defeat of the dual monarchy in World War I, Hungary lost about two
thirds of its territory and population in the Treaty of Trianon. This
included three million Magyars in Transylvania, southern Slovakia and
Vojvodina.
The revision of the Trianon borders became the
determining element in Hungarian politics. In the alliance with Nazi
Germany, Hungarian-populated areas and other areas were reincorporated
into the state between 1938 and 1941. When Germany's defeat in World War
II became apparent, the government tried to switch to the side of the
Allies, whereupon the German army took control and around 500,000
Hungarian Jews fell victim to the Holocaust. After the invasion of the
Red Army, Hungary fell into the Soviet sphere of influence and the
Hungarian People's Republic was proclaimed, again within the borders of
Trianon. After the bloody suppression of the popular uprising in 1956,
the system of so-called goulash communism emerged in the country under
János Kádár. In 1989, Hungary was one of the causes of the fall of the
Iron Curtain and thus the end of the Warsaw Pact in 1991. Today, Hungary
is a member of the EU and is struggling with economic and political
problems.
The oldest archaeological finds from excavations in the Carpathian
Basin date back to the Old Stone Age (the Paleolithic period). One of
the most important sites in this context was the town of Vértesszőlős,
where rubble industries of Homo erectus were discovered. For the period
up to the early Iron Age, there are hardly any reliable evidences or
finds to date that point to the inhabitants of the Carpathian Basin.
The first written records of peoples who settled in the area of
present-day Hungary date from the 6th century BC at the earliest.
Herodotus - a Greek historian, geographer and ethnologist - first
mentioned peoples who spoke a northern Iranian language and belonged to
the group of steppe peoples related to the Scythians. Later, the Celts
tried to gain a foothold in the Carpathian Basin, which they succeeded
in doing by the second half of the 4th century BC. From then on, the
Celts undertook their extensive campaigns of conquest from the
Carpathian Basin.
In 29 BC, Roman legions entered the Carpathian
Basin for the first time. The subsequent Dacian Wars devastated large
parts of Pannonia, and Rome conquered large parts of Illyria as far as
the Drava. A little later, in the first Pannonian War from 12 to 9 BC,
the brothers Tiberius and Drusus conquered Pannonia completely. The
decisive factor for the Roman Empire's expansion drive towards the
Carpathians was, on the one hand, the need to secure the empire's
borders against the Dacians and the Germanic tribes. On the other hand,
there were economic considerations, as the Pannonia region was known for
its iron production and the yield of its agriculture. However, Rome only
succeeded in making Pannonia one of its provinces after the Pannonian
Uprising was suppressed by Tiberius. The capital of the new province,
which extended over what is now Transdanubia and the area between the
Drava and Sava, was the city of Carnuntum, east of Vienna. Until 103/6
AD, Pannonia was divided into two provinces, and later into four under
Diocletian. Pannonia enjoyed many advantages through its integration
into the Roman Empire and its organization. Cities such as Savaria
(Szombathely), Sopianae (Pécs) and Aquincum were equipped with
large-scale buildings, central heating, thermal baths and amphitheaters.
With the introduction of the Roman legal system, literature also spread
rapidly, because public affairs were now conducted on the basis of
written law. Christianity also arrived in Pannonia around 400.
The next major event in the Carpathian Basin occurred in the 430s, when
the Roman Empire ceded control of Pannonia to the Huns. Attila, King of
the Huns, had ambitious plans which he attempted to implement in 451
with the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains against the Roman Empire. The
battle ended in Attila's defeat, however, and the Huns were forced to
retreat. After Attila's death in 453, the Hunnic Empire quickly
disintegrated, especially as the peoples of the Carpathian Basin in
Pannonia began to rebel against the Huns. From this point on, the
Gepids, a Germanic tribe who defeated the Huns under Ardaric in the
Battle of the Nations on the Nedoa River in 455, thereby forcing them to
leave the Carpathian Basin. The western Carpathian Basin was then ruled
by the Ostrogoths and later by the Lombards. However, conflicts soon
arose between the Gepids living in the east and the Lombards, which were
exploited by the Avars, who spread throughout the Carpathian Basin in
the 560s. The Avars were a Central Asian horsemen who, over the next
200-250 years, led campaigns of conquest against Central Europe from the
Pannonian Plain and were an important power factor between the Frankish
Empire and the Byzantine Empire during this time.
Because there
were frequent uprisings in the Avar Empire by the Slavs and Bulgarians,
who were able to break away from the Avars over time, it was easy for
Charlemagne and the Bulgarian Khan Krum to defeat the Avars in their
campaigns between 791 and 803. After the Avar Empire had collapsed,
mainly Slavs moved to the Carpathian Basin and formed the dominant
ethnic group there until the Hungarians took over.
Due to the linguistic relationship with the Ob-Ugric languages, it
can be assumed that the "original homeland" of the Magyars was east of
the Ural Mountains.
At which stage of the migration movements of
the (proto-)Magyars to the west the ethnogenesis, i.e. the development
of a separate ethnic identity, of the Magyars or Hungarians took place
is controversial. Some authors argue that it took place in the 6th to
7th centuries in a region that was later called Magna Hungaria and is
located east of the Volga, roughly in today's Bashkiria. Others argue
that the ethnic unity of the Hungarians only developed in the middle of
the 9th century, in the decades before the conquest of the Pannonian
Basin, in the "inter-river region" (Hungarian Etelköz; probably between
the Dnieper and Dniester in the south of today's Ukraine). There, the
Ugric element of the Proto-Magyars mixed with the Turkic-speaking groups
of the Kavars and Onogurs (the foreign name "Hungarians" is derived from
the latter), which gave rise to the Hungarians. A minority of
researchers assume that the horsemen tribes that invaded Pannonia at the
end of the 9th century were not Magyars at all, but had already been
living there since the 5th or 6th century. The "invaders" led by Grand
Duke Árpád therefore only represented a small minority and gradually
assimilated into the majority population they found there. However, this
is rejected by the majority of researchers.
Attacked by
Bulgarians and Pechenegs, the Magyars fled Etelköz between 894 and 897
and reached the Carpathian Basin. After crossing the Eastern
Carpathians, they first settled on the upper Tisza. The number of
immigrating Magyars is estimated at 400,000–500,000. The area was
already populated by around 200,000 members of non-Magyar peoples
(Slavs, (Proto-)Bulgarians, Moravians, possibly Avars and others). Some
of them fled, joined the Magyars or were subjugated. The term "conquest"
therefore evokes false associations, as the area was by no means
uninhabited.
Before the conquest, the Magyar tribes were organized in a tribal
union. This was led by dual princes (taken over from the Khazars). The
two princes, the "kende" and the "gyula", shared government and military
duties. However, this system dissolved in the first decade of the 10th
century, shortly after the conquest. The main reason was the death of
the then Gyula Kurszán, which the Kende Árpád used to take sole power.
In the following period, the organization of the tribes changed, so
that the individuals increasingly followed their own interests in
political matters. This can be seen in the fact that the raids at the
beginning of the 10th century were not undertaken jointly and, after
unsuccessful raids, the individual tribes also looked for new means of
making their raids more efficient. The journey of a prince of the tribe
that was then living in what is now Transylvania to Constantinople in
950 is also evidence that the tribes were now increasingly going their
own way in religious matters. The prince had made the journey to the
capital of the then Byzantine Empire in order to be baptized as a Greek
Orthodox and thus bind his tribe to the Greek Orthodox Church and the
Byzantine Empire. For this purpose he also brought a missionary bishop
from Constantinople back to his homeland.
On the other hand,
there were the Árpáds, who claimed sole rule over all Hungarians.
However, they were only able to gradually assert this claim after the
lost Battle of Lechfeld in 955, by extending their power to the other
Hungarian tribes through political means and thus controlling large
parts of the western Carpathian Basin by the end of the millennium. To
the north of their territory was the Kabars' sphere of influence. In the
east, the rulers changed again and again, as tribes joined together and
separated again. All of these tribes were similarly organized into four
classes:
Nobility: rich, noble families and "clans" that held
leadership positions
Citizens or middle class: families in the
service of the nobility, some of them wealthy
Lower class: free
people who also owned common property, hardly wealthy
Servants:
unfree people, owned by the nobility
The boundaries between the
different classes and groups were fluid, and they were connected by a
complicated structure of duties and rights. Marriage was important for
all groups. The nobility in particular used the opportunity to expand
their power through marriages in order to establish and consolidate
long-lasting "alliances" with other families and clans. Members of the
middle class were often responsible for protecting the nobility as armed
men. This service was voluntary, but the middle class received
maintenance and accommodation from the nobility for their services. The
lower classes had to bear the burden of the nobility's expenses and paid
for this in kind and in the form of labor service. Labor service was
mainly provided by the "commoners"; they were obliged to perform various
services for their masters. Although these lower classes, like the
middle class and the nobility, were free and formally equal, they became
more and more dependent on the nobility; many lost their freedom and
sank into the group of serfs. This group also included prisoners brought
back from raids as well as the Slavs living in the conquered Carpathian
Basin, from whom the Hungarians learned agriculture and adopted about
1500 basic words from the areas of state administration (county, king),
agriculture (cherry), religion (priest, angel), crafts (miller,
blacksmith) and others (Wednesday, Thursday, street, window, plate,
lunch, dinner) into their language. In the southeast of the Pannonian
Plain there were still isolated remnants of the Avars.
On a
political level, it was thanks to Prince Géza, Árpád's great-grandson,
that relations with Germany improved and stabilized again after the
Battle of Lechfeld. He was also the first to bring Christian
missionaries to Hungary in order to bring his country closer to
Christian-influenced Europe. He was also the first Hungarian ruler to be
baptized in the Christian faith. At the same time, however, he did not
completely renounce the pagan faith of his ancestors. He pursued a dual
strategy: on the one hand, he strove for peace with Christian Europe,
especially with the Western Empire of the time. On the other hand, he
did not deny his roots. At the end of his efforts, he left his son Vajk
with the inheritance, who was baptized in the Christian faith with the
name Stephen I (Hungarian: István) and later married the Duchess Gisela
of Bavaria.
In the romantic Hungarian historiography of the 19th century, the
raids are often unrealistically portrayed as great adventures
(“kalandozások”). But to this day, kalandozások is associated with the
raids that reached far into Central and Western Europe and with which
the Hungarians were very successful at the time. If one looks at all the
reports available today, one can assume that at least 50 raids by the
Hungarian tribes took place between 900 and 970. The first raids hit the
neighboring areas to the west of the Hungarian tribal areas.
From
862 onwards, the nomadic Hungarians (Magyars), who at that time still
undertook their sporadic campaigns in the west from the region behind
the Carpathians, appeared in the Carpathian Basin for the first time.
They invaded for a second time in 881. In these two campaigns they were
defeated by the East Frankish Empire. In 889, the Hungarians were more
successful when they plundered Moravia and parts of the East Frankish
Empire. In 892, they were recruited by the East Franks to fight against
Moravia.
The Hungarians did not settle in what is now Hungary
until 895/896. They first penetrated into the middle and upper Tisza
region of Moravia in 895. To the north and northwest of this area was
the area of the Principality of Neutra, which was part of Moravia, and
to the west of it were the East Frankish Duchies of Bavaria and
Franconia, which put a stop to further expansion. Archaeological finds
also suggest that the upper Tisza region was the initial princely
settlement area.
Around 900, the Hungarians moved to Transdanubia
and brought it under their rule, with several events making the conquest
easier for them. The Moravian prince Svatopluk I died in 894. The
subsequent disputes over the throne increasingly weakened his kingdom,
so that in the same year Moravia lost the area of Transdanubia to the
East Frankish Empire after Hungarian plundering. The East Frankish king
Arnulf even formed an alliance with the Hungarians in 892 against the
Lombards under Guido of Spoleto and defeated them together. When King
Arnulf also died a short time later, the Hungarians saw the right time
to expand their territory. The choice of the areas to be conquered was
based primarily on strategic considerations, so that the Hungarians
mainly settled on bodies of water, river valleys or areas protected by
swamps. According to some chronicles, an important center of the
Hungarian tribes at that time was on the island of Csepel in the middle
section of the Danube (approximately near the present-day city of
Budapest).
At the Battle of Pressburg in 907, the Hungarians
defeated Bavarian troops, conquered the eastern parts of what is now
Austria by 955, and destroyed the central power of the Moravian Empire.
Around 925, a group of Hungarian tribes led by Lél conquered what is now
southwestern Slovakia (see Principality of Neutra).
In the second
half of the 10th century, the areas controlled by Hungary consisted of a
number of Hungarian tribal areas, of which that of the main line of the
Árpáds, i.e. the core of the later Hungarian state, was only in northern
Transdanubia. According to the available sources, from around the 1070s
onwards the situation was such that, in addition to the aforementioned
area, the Árpáds also indirectly controlled the feudal principalities of
Neutra and Bihar, as well as Transylvania, which was ruled by relatives.
The remaining areas were ruled by hostile Hungarian tribal leaders and
were only later conquered and unified by King Stephen. However, the
Hungarians did not rule an ethnically homogeneous country. The
subjugated Slavic and Germanic peoples in the country were an essential
part of the Hungarian armies and state apparatus, which can be seen in
the countless Slavic and German loanwords in Hungarian.
The
defence of the Hungarian territories had to be directed mainly towards
the east and north, as the Magyars always carried out their attacks and
campaigns towards the west, often as allies of a western state. In the
10th century, these campaigns determined the entire Hungarian foreign
policy. They acquired luxury items and expensive goods - including
prisoners - through raids and plunder throughout Europe. The armies of
western states at that time consisted mainly of heavily armoured
cavalry, while the Magyars' horsemen were fast and always mobile, an
advantage that guaranteed their success for a long time. Their tactics
were quite unusual for the time: they tried to encircle the enemy army
and shoot arrows from horseback. After a while they feigned flight and
then turned around in the moment of surprise, luring the enemy into a
trap. With this tactic they managed to plunder many regions of Europe,
including those that were culturally and technically highly developed.
Other factors also favored the success of the Magyars: the grueling wars
between the individual European states, but also the weakening of
feudalism from within. In Hungary, the raids led to further
differentiation of the population. The ruling class of the state became
increasingly wealthy, mainly through war booty such as silver, animals
and expensive fabrics, and later also through tribute payments.
In 933, the Hungarians also wanted to demand tribute from the East
Frankish King Henry I and went to war against the East Frankish Empire.
However, Henry expected an attack and was able to muster a strong army.
The Hungarians were defeated in the Battle of Riade. The belief in the
Hungarians' invincibility was shaken. However, the Hungarian raids
continued. The Hungarians were only stopped with their devastating
defeat in 955 at the Battle of Lechfeld near Augsburg. After this
battle, three Hungarian leaders (Bulcsú, Lél, Súr) who had been taken
prisoner were hanged, Austria fell back to the East Franks and the
Principality of Neutra to the Árpáds.
As a result of this defeat,
a new course was taken in foreign policy. The new Grand Duke Taksony put
an end to the attacks in the west. He was prepared to maintain peace
with the East Frankish Empire, even if it meant losing territory.
Meanwhile, the attacks continued in the south. Byzantium stopped paying
tribute to Hungary, so that in 959 Taksony decided to launch a campaign
against Byzantium, which was not decided until 11 years later. The
Magyars, even in alliance with the Pechenegs, Bulgarians and Russians,
could not win the decisive Battle of Arkadiopolis and had to admit
defeat. This sealed the end of the Magyars' raids. Grand Duke Géza
(949-997), who had inherited the throne from his father Taksony, was
forced to stop the attacks, as otherwise the great powers of Europe
would have attacked Hungary. He also had to address problems within the
country. The raids as a source of income had dried up, so other sources
of income had to be found. The foreign and domestic political situation
made the founding of a state ever more urgent.
Géza and his son
Vajk (Stephen I) brought East Frankish missionaries and knights into the
country, including missionaries from Byzantium, and built up an
administration. With their growing following, they eliminated internal
rivals (Koppány), so that Stephen I was able to be crowned king in the
winter of 1000/1001.
The Christianization of the country began with the rule of Stephen I.
In 1030 he fended off the attack of the Roman-German Emperor Conrad II
and thus secured the existence of his state. Stephen I was canonized in
1089. In 1102 the Kingdom of Croatia became part of Hungary through a
personal union.
In the following centuries, Hungary's domestic
policy was determined by the struggle between the king and the high
nobility, which reached its peak in the 13th century. Hungary's foreign
policy was characterized by far-reaching marriage alliances and, after
the fall of power of Byzantium in 1180 on the Balkan peninsula, took on
the character of great power politics.
In 1241, the Mongols under
Batu Khan devastated the country after their victory in the Battle of
Muhi and killed about half of the inhabitants, so that King Béla IV
(1235–1270) had to bring many immigrants back to the depopulated country
through regionally established tax privileges and the right of internal
self-government through their own legal traditions. Among them were many
German-speaking "Saxons", who lived mainly in Transylvania (see
Transylvanian Saxons) and in today's Slovakia, region of Zips (Zipser
German-speaking Zipser Saxons), but also Cumans and Jassians who had
fled from the Mongols. After the Mongol invasion, the Hungarian magnates
expanded their power, which ultimately led to the emergence of the
Hungarian petty kingdoms after the death of King Andrew III in 1301. In
the 1320s, King Charles I Robert ended the power of the magnates in a
series of campaigns and restored central power.
In 1396, a
French-Hungarian army of knights under King Sigismund lost the Battle of
Nicopolis against the Ottomans. From 1370 to 1386 and from 1440 to 1444,
Hungary was ruled by the Angevins and Jagiellonians in personal union
with Poland. In 1444, under the commander John Hunyadi, there was
another heavy defeat, this time with the united Poland against the
Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Varna.
Towards the end of the
Middle Ages, Hungary flourished under the rule of Sigismund of
Luxembourg (king since 1387) or Matthias Corvinus (1458-1490), elected
by the lesser nobility. From the middle of the 15th century, wars broke
out between Matthias Corvinus and the Habsburgs. After Corvinus' death,
Hungary was ruled by the Polish-Lithuanian Jagiellonians in personal
union with Bohemia from 1490 to 1526. This personal union ended in 1526
with the death of Louis II in the Battle of Mohács. As a result, a large
part of Hungary was conquered by the Ottomans under Sultan Süleyman the
Magnificent.
The double election of 1526 after the death of Louis II was decisive
for the fate of Hungary over the next 150 years. The majority of the
Hungarian estates elected Prince Johann Zápolya as Hungarian king in
Tokaj and a little later in the old Hungarian coronation city of
Székesfehérvár. But the Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, who
would have been entitled to the succession to the Kingdom of Hungary
according to the mutual inheritance agreement of 1515, was also elected
king of Hungary in 1526 in Pressburg by an assembly of mainly western
and upper Hungarian nobles. At that time, a very precise map of Hungary
was printed, namely the Tabula Hungarie (1528), designed by Lazarus
Secretarius and his teacher Georg Tannstetter.
In the civil war
that followed (1527–1538) against John Zápolya, Ferdinand's troops
initially proved to be superior and were able to occupy the most
important cities in western and central Hungary, while Zápolya was
forced back to his base in Transylvania. Nevertheless, in the Peace of
Oradea in 1538 (also in view of the looming Turkish threat), Ferdinand
recognized Zápolya as King of Hungary, but secured the right of
succession in the event of his death. However, Zápolya changed his mind
after his son and successor, John Sigismund, was born from his marriage
to Isabella of Poland in 1539, to whom he bequeathed the kingdom in
1540. The death of John Zápolya and the fact that his son was a minor
brought the Ottomans into action, who conquered Buda-Ofen in 1541 and
were able to occupy the most important cities in central Hungary, namely
Gran, Székesfehérvár and Pécs, by 1543.
After Zápolya's death in
1540, the tripartite division of the Kingdom of Hungary was cemented for
almost 150 years: the areas that continued to be ruled by the Habsburgs
- today's Burgenland, today's Slovakia, western Croatia and parts of
today's northwest and northeast Hungary - became, under the name Royal
Hungary, a de facto province of the rulers in Vienna, who from then on
competed with the Turks for ownership of the country. Formally, the
Habsburgs continued to be crowned as Hungarian kings, but initially in
competition with John Sigismund Zápolya, who resided in Transylvania as
an anti-king until his abdication in 1570. Pressburg became the capital
of Royal Hungary. Of the remaining former territories, the Principality
of Transylvania became a Turkish vassal state, but its ambitious princes
(often from the House of Báthory) managed to pursue a clever balancing
act between Turkish supremacy and the Habsburg claims on Hungary, thus
using the military stalemate to their advantage. Central Hungary - i.e.
the largest part of today's Hungary - became part of the Ottoman Empire.
While the Magyars made up 80% of the population of 3.5 to 4 million
before 1526, their share declined sharply due to the constant wars and
devastation, which were responded to with new settlements. Around 1600,
the total population was estimated at around 2.5 million, and after the
Turks withdrew, around 4 million.
The end of Turkish rule in
Hungary and thus the end of Transylvania's independence came shortly
after the failed siege of Vienna by the Turks in 1683. In the same year,
the Habsburgs managed to conquer Grans, and after taking Buda and Ofen
in 1686 and defeating an Ottoman army in 1687 in the Battle of Mount
Harsány (also known as the Second Battle of Mohács) and the subsequent
occupation of large parts of Hungary and Transylvania, the Hungarian
estates recognized the nine-year-old Archduke Joseph, the son of Leopold
I, as hereditary king of Hungary during his lifetime. The coronation on
December 9, 1687 in Pressburg represented a "significant step towards
the connection of Hungary with the Austro-Bohemian conglomerate ruled by
the emperor as sovereign and towards the internal development of the
great power Austria". In the Peace of Karlowitz in 1699, the Ottoman
Empire finally had to recognize the loss of Hungary.
However, the Hungarians disapproved of the absolutist rule of the
Habsburgs, and the Kuruc uprising under Prince Rákóczi broke out in
1703–1711. After his defeat, the traditional freedoms of the nobles in
the Kingdom of Hungary were renewed in the Peace of Szatmár in 1711 and
the Habsburgs were again recognized as kings of Hungary. This peace and
the subsequent parliamentary sessions in Pressburg in 1712 and 1714
ended the uprising.
Under the rule of Maria Theresa, Germans,
such as the Danube Swabians, again settled in the Kingdom of Hungary.
During the Napoleonic Wars, the Austro-Hungarian relationship was
largely free of tension. In the first decades of the 19th century,
however, a strong liberal and national movement developed in Hungary. In
1825, Hungarian replaced Latin as the state language. In 1848/49 there
was a revolution against the Habsburgs under the leadership of Lajos
Kossuth, during which the Hungarian Reichstag met on April 14, 1849 in
the Great Reformed Church of Debrecen and Lajos Kossuth announced the
dethronement of the House of Habsburg and the independence of Hungary.
After the bloody suppression of the Hungarian freedom struggle until
August 1849, with Russian support, and a phase of repression (execution
of the Hungarian Prime Minister Batthyány and 13 other revolutionary
leaders on October 6, 1849), in 1867 under Emperor Franz Joseph I,
Austria reached a compromise with Hungary in order to put the
multi-ethnic state on a broader basis.
The Compromise was achieved on the Hungarian side with the
participation of Ferenc Deák ("The Wise Man of the Homeland"). Until
1918, Hungary was now the second main part of the Austro-Hungarian Dual
Monarchy. The liberal party that emerged from Deák's political camp
dominated Hungarian politics in the decades that followed. In 1868, the
Hungarian government negotiated the Hungarian-Croatian Compromise, which
regulated the autonomy of the Kingdom of Croatia within the Hungarian
part of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy. From 1879, however, the
increasing Magyarization policy in the Hungarian part of the empire led
to considerable tensions with other ethnic groups.
As Prime
Minister (1875–1890), Kálmán Tisza carried out extensive reforms to
modernize the country in the areas of economy, justice, social welfare
and politics. With Finance Minister Sándor Wekerle, he was able to avert
national bankruptcy. A tax reform, which also included large land
holdings, multiplied state revenues. His government also increased
independence from the Austrian part of the empire, Cisleithania, and
Hungarian influence on the monarchy's common foreign policy also
increased significantly. The considerable economic successes during
Tisza's reign "established the country's prestige and modified the
self-image of Hungarian politics."
Tisza's long reign gave the
impression of great stability, especially compared to the Austrian part
of the Dual Monarchy, where eleven governments succeeded one another
during this time. However, social development could not keep pace with
the country's relatively constant economic development. Unrest and
growing anti-Semitism were the result.
The policy of
Magyarization of Hungary began under the Tisza government; the
non-Magyar population was to adopt the Magyar language and nationality
through more or less gentle pressure. Between 1880 and 1910, the
percentage of Hungarian citizens (excluding Croatia) who identified as
Magyars rose from 45 to over 54 percent.
Prime Minister Dezső
Bánffy (1895–1899) institutionalized and bureaucratized nationality
policy, coupled with reprisals against the minorities in the kingdom.
Bánffy elevated the idea of the Hungarian nation state to a government
program: "The nation state should be realized, among other things,
through the Magyarization of place names, family names and through
intensive language instruction." For him, the language dispute with the
minorities was merely a pretext: "The question of language is only a
means; the real goal is to introduce a federalist policy in Hungary."
Dualism was by no means a stable political state; there were frequent
conflicts with Vienna, such as in the Hungarian crisis of 1905/06 or
during the regular (financial) equalization negotiations. The Budapest
Millennium Exhibition in 1896 attracted over five million visitors.
Kálmán's son István Tisza led Hungary into the First World War. In
it, Hungary provided almost 4 million soldiers and suffered 600,000
deaths and 700,000 prisoners. Under Prime Minister Tisza and Stephan
Burián, who was alternately Imperial Finance Minister and Imperial
Foreign Minister in the Council of Ministers for Common Affairs in
Vienna, Hungary achieved greater influence on Austria-Hungary's foreign
policy than ever before. Hungary's influence in Europe was thus greater
than it had been since the end of the Middle Ages.
After the defeat in 1918, Hungary was re-established as a fully
independent state, initially as a democratic republic under Mihály
Károlyi (Hungarian National Council – Hungarian People's Republic).
After the peaceful civil revolution of 1918, the government of the new
republic enacted People's Law No. 1, which for the first time in
Hungarian history guaranteed equal voting rights for both sexes,
exercised through party lists. However, no elections were held on this
basis. The conservative wing of the nationalist movement overthrew Prime
Minister Mihály Károlyi in a counter-revolution, and women's suffrage
was abolished again.
In 1919, Béla Kun established the Hungarian
Soviet Republic, but it collapsed after the defeat in the war against
Romania. The post-revolutionary electoral law of November 1919,
contained in Government Decree 5985/1919/ME, again guaranteed a
gradually expanded right to vote. Nevertheless, the parliamentary
elections on 25 and 26 January 1920 were marred by intimidation and
corruption. Women and men over 24 had the right to vote if they had held
Hungarian citizenship for six years and had lived in Hungary for at
least six months. Women's voting rights were restricted to women who
could read and write. Men were exempt from the age restriction if they
had served at least twelve weeks in the military at the front. In 1922
there was a setback: an electoral reform raised the voting age for women
to 30. A certain level of education was also required: four years of
primary school for men and six for women (four if they had at least
three children or had their own income and were heads of household).
Under the Horthy regime, Hungary became an authoritarian,
conservative state, which lost two thirds of its territory in 1920
through the Treaty of Trianon: Burgenland, Croatia and Slavonia,
Slovakia, Transylvania, Carpathian Ukraine, Banat and Vojvodina. Hungary
thus shrank from 279,090 km² by 186,060 km² to 93,030 km². 63 percent of
the former lands of the Holy Crown of St. Stephen were outside the new
borders after this treaty, including almost 30 percent of Hungarians. It
lost almost all areas with raw material deposits. As the successor state
to the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, Hungary, like Austria, was obliged to
pay reparations, which were to be paid off over 33 years. The Royal
Hungarian Army was reduced to 32,000 men. Nominally, Hungary was still a
kingdom; It was ruled by Miklós Horthy as regent. The former King
Charles IV tried unsuccessfully twice to regain power in 1921.
Revisionist propaganda brought Hungary ever closer to the leadership of
the Nazi state. Hungary and Nazi Germany concluded an economic agreement
on February 21, 1934, and an agreement on intellectual and cultural
cooperation on May 28, 1936. On March 17, 1934, Hungary, Italy and
Austria signed the Protocolli di Roma; this created an economic bloc
between these countries.
Anti-Jewish discrimination laws followed in
May 1938 (tightened in May 1939) and 1941.
In March 1939,
Hungarian troops occupied Carpathian Ukraine as part of the dismantling
of the rest of Czechoslovakia. Previously – in the First Vienna Award (2
November 1938) – Hungary had already received a territory with over 1
million inhabitants. Hungary joined the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1939 and
the Tripartite Pact in 1940. In April 1941 it supported the German Reich
in the Balkan campaign (1941)#Destruction of Yugoslavia against
Yugoslavia and, after declaring war on 27 June 1941, took part in the
war against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1945. With this policy it
regained the Carpathian Ukraine and the northern part of Transylvania.
In the Hungarian-Romanian conflict over the issue of Transylvania,
however, Hitler showed sympathy for Romania, on whose oil reserves the
German Reich was dependent. In January 1943 the 2nd Hungarian Army with
200,000 men was encircled by the Red Army in the Voronezh-Kharkiv
operation. It was a turning point that made it clear to Miklós Kállay's
government that it would be better to side with the Allies.
In
August 1943, parts of the Hungarian government made initial contact with
the Allies, after which the country was occupied by German troops from
March 19, 1944 ("Margarethe Case"). On March 23, 1944, a new government
was formed under Prime Minister Döme Sztójay. Within a very short time,
the Jews were completely disenfranchised with the help of 107 laws.
Then, under the leadership of Adolf Eichmann, on April 27, 1944, the
mass deportation of Jews from the Hungarian province to the
extermination camps began. After foreign protests, the deportation of
the last 200,000 or so Budapest Jews was only stopped by Horthy in early
July 1944 and was temporarily halted on July 9. By then (according to a
telegram from the German ambassador and Reich plenipotentiary Edmund
Veesenmayer on July 11th) 437,402 Jews had been deported in just over
two months.
In October 1944, the Red Army crossed the Hungarian
border and occupied the east of the country. On October 15th, Horthy was
overthrown by "Operation Panzerfaust" and power was handed over to the
fascist Arrow Cross movement led by Ferenc Szálasi, who resumed the
deportation of Jews. In November, thousands of Jews died in the Budapest
ghetto and on the death marches - the railway network had collapsed.
Budapest, which was the target of Anglo-American bombing raids
several times during the year, was surrounded by Soviet forces at the
end of December 1944. In the battle, which lasted until the beginning of
February 1945, large parts of the capital were destroyed by the
besiegers and the encircled German and Hungarian troops, who blew up all
the bridges over the Danube during their retreat to the Buda side of the
pocket. 38,000 Budapest civilians died in the fighting. The Budapest
ghetto was liberated by the Red Army on January 18, 1945. The last
fighting on Hungarian territory ended on April 4, 1945, and some
Hungarian units continued to fight in Austria and Bavaria until the
beginning of May.
Initially, the Allies envisaged a democratic constitution for Hungary
after the war. In 1945, unrestricted voting rights were restored. After
the communists suffered a heavy defeat in the parliamentary elections on
November 4, 1945, they began to use shady methods to grab power. Even
when the Independent Party of Smallholders, Rural Workers and the
Bourgeoisie (FKgP) was crushed, the Hungarian Communist Party (MKP) only
received 22.3% of the vote in the parliamentary elections on August 31,
1947. On June 12, 1948, the forced merger of the MKP and the Social
Democratic Party to form the "Party of Hungarian Working People"
(Hungarian: Magyar Dolgozók Pártja or MDP) was formally completed
(analogous to the forced merger of the SPD and KPD to form the SED).
Soon after, the other parties were dissolved; In the parliamentary
"election" on May 15, 1949, only one party - the MDP - was allowed to
run. In 1948, Hungary was subjected to communism based on the Soviet
model. Equal voting rights for both sexes were downgraded to a formal
right. On August 20, 1949, a constitution based on the Soviet model was
adopted. From 1948 to 1953, the Hungarian communists under Mátyás Rákosi
followed a Stalinist course.
Until 1953, several show and secret
trials were held, for example against Cardinal József Mindszenty, Paul
Esterházy and László Rajk. The Hungarian political police Államvédelmi
Hatóság (ÁVH) began to persecute political opponents in 1945. It was
feared (also and especially in the ranks of the communists). János Kádár
was responsible for the arrest of László Rajk. In 1951, Kádár was also
accused of supporting Tito and arrested. A final secret trial in 1953
was intended to "prove" the murder of the Swedish diplomat Raoul
Wallenberg by Zionist conspirators; Károly Szabó was arrested in April
1953 and imprisoned for six months.
After the death of the Soviet
dictator Josef Stalin (March 5, 1953), a period of cautious
liberalization began in June 1953 under Prime Minister Imre Nagy. The
disempowerment of Nagy in 1955 by the largely unchanged party leadership
was accompanied by a restoration. The political situation remained
tense. Rajk was rehabilitated and ceremoniously buried on October 6,
1956 with great public sympathy (more details here).
On October
23, 1956, a popular uprising began, during which Imre Nagy was again
appointed Prime Minister. The Soviet army bloodily suppressed the
uprising. A total of five Soviet divisions were involved between
November 1 and November 4; around 100,000 Soviet soldiers remained in
Hungary as an occupying army. Imre Nagy was sentenced to death in a
secret trial in June 1958 and hanged on the same day. By 1963, around
400 people, mainly workers, had been executed in retaliation for the
uprising. After the popular uprising was suppressed, over 200,000
Hungarians left their country and emigrated to Western Europe or North
America. János Kádár was head of the party and government from 1956 to
May 1988.
After 1956, Hungary's relations with the United States
deteriorated drastically. On November 4, 1956, the United Nations
General Assembly, convened at the instigation of the United States,
condemned the Soviet intervention in Hungary in Resolution 1004 (ES-II)
by 50 votes to 8 (Russian Soviet Republic, Ukrainian Soviet Republic,
Byelorussian Soviet Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland,
Albania) with 15 abstentions (Afghanistan, Burma, Ceylon, Egypt,
Finland, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Nepal, Saudi Arabia,
Syria, Yemen and Yugoslavia). From 1960, secret negotiations were
underway between the United States and the Kádár government in Hungary,
which culminated in an unwritten agreement on October 20, 1962. As a
result, in 1963 the Hungarian government issued a general amnesty for
those convicted after 1956, and in return the United States made no
further efforts to bring the Hungarian question before the General
Assembly of the United Nations. The case of József Mindszenty placed a
further strain on US-Hungarian relations. The archbishop and cardinal
was freed from prison in 1956 during the popular uprising and fled to
the US embassy in Budapest in the final phase of the uprising. After 15
years in the embassy, Mindszenty finally left the embassy at the
urging of the Pope and went into exile. From the 1960s onwards, a
cautious liberalisation of domestic politics took place. From 1968
onwards there were economic reforms and the era of goulash communism
began. In March 1973 an agreement was reached on previously contentious
property issues; In the following years, Hungary serviced old loan
claims from the post-war years 1921/22 and paid compensation for
American property nationalized in 1947/48.
The question of the
return of the Hungarian crown insignia, including the St. Stephen's
Crown, the centuries-old state symbol of Hungary, which had fallen into
American hands in 1945 after the end of the war, became a point of
contention with deeper symbolic value. The USA took the position,
especially after 1956, and was also encouraged in this by Hungarian
exile associations, that the return could only be made to a free
Hungary. In view of the increasing domestic political détente in Hungary
and the predominantly constructive foreign policy of the Kádár
government from the USA's perspective, the Carter government returned
the crown insignia in 1977.
In 1988, the peaceful change of
system began with the formation of the first opposition groups. On May
27, 1988, Kádár resigned from his post as General Secretary of the
Communist Party due to age and health reasons and in view of Hungary's
growing economic difficulties. Károly Grósz (1930–1996) became his
successor. On January 1, 1988, Hungarians were granted freedom of travel
to Western countries. At the end of 1988, economic reformers took power
in the Communist Party; Miklós Németh became Prime Minister on November
24, 1988 (Grósz had held this office since June 25, 1987).
Németh
- one of his first official acts - cut the budget item "maintenance of
the signal system" on the border with Austria. At the time, Hungary had
foreign debts of around 17 billion US dollars. On July 6, 1989, Imre
Nagy was rehabilitated and on October 23, 1989, the third Hungarian
Republic was proclaimed.
On May 2, 1989, Hungary began to
dismantle the border installations with Austria. One factor in this was
probably cost reasons; the necessary repairs to the dilapidated border
fence were too expensive for the Hungarian government.
Hungary's
accession to the Geneva Refugee Convention took effect on June 12, 1989.
Hungary could now refuse to deport refugees to their home countries by
referring to internationally binding agreements.
On June 27,
1989, the foreign ministers of Austria (Alois Mock) and Hungary (Gyula
Horn) met at the border fence and symbolically cut it with bolt cutters.
In the following weeks, camping sites at Lake Balaton and elsewhere
filled up; in Budapest, parks and the Federal Republic's embassy grounds
filled up with tens of thousands of GDR citizens.
The symbolic
opening of a border gate between Austria and Hungary at the Pan-European
Picnic on August 19, 1989 was and is considered the first "official"
opening of the Iron Curtain. The effects of this measure, which
initially received little attention from the world public, were dramatic
and contributed significantly to the fall of the Iron Curtain, the fall
of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the disintegration
of the Eastern Bloc and the Warsaw Pact, the democratization of Eastern
Europe and German reunification.
On March 25 and April 8, 1990,
the first free parliamentary elections since November 1945 took place in
Hungary.
On October 23, 1989 – the anniversary of the Hungarian National
Uprising – the incumbent head of state Mátyás Szűrös proclaimed the
Republic of Hungary as a democratic and parliamentary republic.[39] Free
elections were held on March 25, 1990 (second round on April 8), which
the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) won with 24.72 percent of the vote.
It formed the government together with the Independent Party of Small
Farmers (FKGP) and the Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP). The
chairman of the MDF, József Antall, was elected prime minister on May
23, 1990. The primary goal of government policy was the introduction of
the market economy and the integration of Hungary into the European
Union. A first step was the decision on June 26, 1990 to withdraw from
the Warsaw Pact. On August 3, parliament elected Árpád Göncz as
president. Based on an agreement made in 1990, the 50,000 soldiers
stationed in the Soviet army left the country by the end of 1991. On
February 8, 1994, the country became a member of the Partnership for
Peace, and in April it applied for membership in the European Union.
The Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) won the parliamentary election
on May 8, 1994 with 53 percent of the vote. It formed the government
together with the Free Democrats (SZDSZ). Gyula Horn became the new
prime minister. The Slovakian-Hungarian basic treaty was signed on March
19, 1995, and the Hungarian-Romanian basic treaty on September 16, 1996.
Accession negotiations with the European Union began on March 31, 1998,
and an application for NATO membership was also submitted in the same
year.
On May 10, 1998, parliamentary elections were held, which
were won by an alliance of the Young Democrats' Union (FIDESZ) and the
Hungarian Civic Party (MPP) with 38.3 percent of the vote. This alliance
formed a coalition with the Independent Farmers' Party (FKGP) and the
Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF). The Prime Minister was the chairman of
FIDESZ, Viktor Orbán. On March 12, 1999, Hungary became a member of
NATO. In 2000, Ferenc Mádl was elected President.
The Hungarian
Socialist Party (MSZP) won the parliamentary election on April 7, 2002
with 41.5 percent of the vote. It formed a government together with the
Free Democrats (SZDSZ), and the independent Péter Medgyessy became the
new Prime Minister. On April 12, 2003, a referendum was held on
Hungary's accession to the European Union, with 83.8 percent of voters
voting in favor. On April 16, 2003, the accession treaties were signed,
and Hungary has been a member of the European Union since May 1, 2004 as
part of the EU's eastward expansion. In the presidential election on
June 6 and 7, 2005, the former President of the Hungarian Constitutional
Court, László Sólyom, defeated the President of Parliament, Katalin
Szili, in the third round with 185 votes to 182. He was inaugurated on
August 5.
In Hungary, up until 2006, every parliamentary election
resulted in an opposition victory and thus a change of government. It
was not until the elections in April 2006 that an incumbent government
was re-elected.
The Prime Ministers since 1990:
1990–1993
József Antall, MDF (died in office)
1993–1994 Péter Boross, MDF
1994–1998 Gyula Horn, MSZP
1998–2002 Viktor Orbán, FIDESZ
2002–2004 Péter Medgyessy, MSZP (resigned)
2004–2009 Ferenc
Gyurcsány, MSZP
2009–2010 Gordon Bajnai, set up by the MSZP
since
2010 Viktor Orbán, FIDESZ
In the parliamentary elections on April 11 and 25, 2010, Orbán's
national conservative electoral alliance Fidesz-KDNP received 52.73
percent of the votes; the parliamentary group of both parties had 263 of
the 386 seats in the Hungarian parliament and thus a two-thirds majority
necessary for constitutional changes. The MSZP (Socialists) received
19.3 percent of the votes and 59 seats; the right-wing extremist Jobbik
received 16.67 percent of the votes and 47 seats. With a respectable
result and 17 seats, the green-liberal LMP, founded only in 2009,
entered parliament and formed the smallest parliamentary group there.
The two moderate major parties of the transition period, the
left-liberal SzDSz and the bourgeois MDF, failed to clear the 5 percent
hurdle; this favored Fidesz's landslide victory.
In parliament,
the result of the elections resulted in a shift in power to the
right-wing parties, with around 70% of voters voting for right-wing or
far-right parties. Given that right-wing and extreme-right forces had
80% of seats in parliament and a "successful revolution at the ballot
box," Viktor Orbán was able to quickly realize his idea of creating a
"central political force field" in the guise of the victorious Fidesz.
Right at the beginning of his term in office, Orbán had a new
restrictive media law drawn up, which allows the government to severely
punish journalists if they do not publish - as the text of the law
states - "balanced, relevant and objective information" about Hungarian
government policy. The assessment of the content is the responsibility
of the Media Council, which is part of the NMHH media authority newly
created by the Orbán government. According to Austrian journalists
Roland Androwitzer and Ernst Gelegs, with the media law Orbán laid the
foundation for bringing public broadcasting under the total control of
the government. The Prime Minister merged the television stations M1, M2
and Duna-TV as well as the three national radio stations Petöfi, Kossuth
and Bartók and also the Hungarian news agency MTI under one roof called
MTVA. Around 1,000 employees were laid off and news editorial
departments were merged into a "super editorial department". This means
that there is now only one editorial department that produces for all
stations. This means that diversity of opinion and pluralism in public
broadcasting no longer exist, according to Androwitzer and Gelegs.
Economically, the new Orbán government relied on a so-called
"unorthodox economic policy" that is primarily aimed at large foreign
corporations. The previous government, made up of socialists and
left-liberals, was able to prevent national bankruptcy with a 20 billion
loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), but Hungary's
macroeconomic data was poor. Total debt amounted to 80 percent of gross
domestic product, the budget deficit was more than four percent at the
end of 2009, economic output fell sharply and the unemployment rate rose
rapidly. The new prime minister's first measure, a bank tax of 0.45% of
total assets, was introduced just two months after he took office. In
autumn 2010, three more sectors were added to the tax: energy companies,
telecommunications companies and supermarket chains. These three sectors
are mostly in foreign hands. The national conservative government also
resorted to typical socialist economic instruments of centralization and
nationalization. Universities, schools and hospitals were deprived of
their autonomy.
On February 7, 2011, Viktor Orbán declared in a
speech on the state of the nation that Hungary needed a new
constitution, as the current one was not the Hungarian constitution, but
was drawn up according to the Soviet model. In fact, Hungary's old Basic
Law was written in 1949 according to the Soviet model, but after the
fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a comprehensive constitutional
amendment was made, in which Hungary defined itself as a parliamentary
democracy and a constitutional state based on the Western model. The
Basic Law now drawn up by the national conservative government was
passed through parliament in nine days, without any prior national and
social, political and legal discussion, and officially came into force
on January 1, 2012. The preamble to the new Basic Law, with its
"national creed" and the concept of the Holy Crown of St. Stephen, was
intended to sign off on the completion of the change. The constitution
proclaimed the ethnic understanding of the nation and defined the
"Hungarian nation" as a Christian community. The St. Stephen's Crown is
considered the bearer of Hungarian sovereignty and a sacred symbol, and
insulting it is punishable by law. The "family" is described as the
foundation of the "Hungarian nation" and is clearly defined as the
coexistence of man, woman and child.
In the parliamentary
elections in April 2014, Orbán's national conservative Fidesz party once
again won the election with almost 45 percent. However, compared to the
election in 2010, the party had lost around 600,000 votes, or almost a
quarter of its voters. Nevertheless, thanks to a new majority voting
system, Fidesz achieved a two-thirds majority in parliament, but this
was lost again in the results of a by-election. After the renewed
election victory, Orbán gave a speech in Transylvania, Romania, at the
end of July 2014, completely rejecting liberal democracy and announcing
the construction of an "illiberal state" modeled on Russia, Turkey and
China. In the 2018 and 2022 parliamentary elections, Orbán's Fidesz
party achieved a two-thirds majority in parliament.
In October
2024, the opposition Tisztelet és Szabadság Párt (Tisza) under Péter
Magyar became the first party in 18 years to narrowly overtake Orbán's
Fidesz in two opinion polls. In both, Fidesz was only the second
strongest force with 37% of the vote, Tisza achieved 39%. On January 1,
2025, Magyar, as opposition leader, called for early elections.
During the People's Republic, there were holidays that were connected
to the communist regime: March 21st referred to the proclamation of the
Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919. April 4th was celebrated as
"Liberation Day (from fascism)" because on this day in 1944 the last
German soldier was supposedly forced to leave Hungary due to the
invasion of the Red Army. November 7th was celebrated as the "Day of the
Great Socialist October Revolution".
On March 15th, only schools
were free, and there were constant fears of unrest among young people.
On this day, it is still customary to wear a cockade in the Hungarian
national colors over the heart. August 20th was known as "Constitution
Day" during the communist years and was celebrated with a large military
parade, and new conscripts had to take their oath. On this day, an air
force parade still takes place over the Danube in Budapest, but today
only the young officers take their oath on this day because general
conscription has been abolished. The celebrations on August 20th are now
(as before 1948) more of a historical nature, with the focus on the
commemorations of the first king of Hungary - all over Hungary, people
commemorate St. Stephen, in whose honor services and processions are
held. The day traditionally ends with a large fireworks display in
Budapest, which is also broadcast live on television. October 23rd was
not allowed to be celebrated until the fall of the Wall. On May 1st, a
large march of workers took place, which passed by a grandstand on which
the most important communist party officials stood. Today, only May Day
rallies take place. Some religious holidays (All Saints' Day and
Pentecost) have only been official holidays again since 1998.
In Hungary, Mother's Day (Anyák napja) is celebrated on the first
Sunday in May, not on the second Sunday as in many other countries. The
first Sunday in June is Teachers' Day, and teachers are congratulated
the following week.
Name days are celebrated in Hungary in a big
way, both in the family and among friends and colleagues; they often
have more significance than birthdays. Festivals from the Anglo-Saxon
countries (Halloween, Valentine's Day) have now also found their way
into Hungary.
Most of the customs on religious holidays are
similar to those in other Central European countries. An important
tradition is that men pour perfume on women on Easter Monday
(locsolkodás), which goes back to an old custom. In the past, it was
common, especially in the countryside, to pour a bucket of cold water
over young women so that they would not "wither". This motif can be
found in most of the little Easter rhymes (locsoló vers) that are often
recited on this occasion: Zöld erdőben jártam, kék ibolyát láttam, el
akart hervadni, szabad-e locsolni? ("I was walking in the green forest
and found a blue violet, it was about to wither, may I water it?"
Another translation: "I was in the green forest/I saw blue flowers/They
were about to wither/May I water you?"). Women have to give men a red
egg or a small gift (chocolate) for watering. Nowadays, children are
given change and men are given a shot of schnapps in return.
Hungarian food is considered relatively "heavy fare" compared to other European dishes. A popular Hungarian dish (often referred to as the national dish) is pörkölt (not to be confused with gulyás). Pörkölt is not only incorrectly referred to as goulash in German-speaking countries. In addition to paprika, which is also ground and used as a spice in Hungarian and now also in foreign cuisine, Tokaj (Hungarian: tokaji), a wine from the Tokaj wine region (Hungarian: tokaji borvidék), is world famous.
Some of the most important surviving buildings in Hungary are built
in the late Romanesque style. They are strongly influenced by Western
European influences (Rhineland/Cologne), such as the churches in Zsámbék
and Ják (St. George) from the 13th century. Two- and three-aisled hall
churches from the 15th century are particularly characteristic of the
Gothic period. Under King Sigismund (Hungarian: Zsigmond), a princely
residence was built in Buda, which King Matthias Corvinus had expanded
in the Florentine style. One of the most important works of this era is
Prince Esterházy's palace in Fertőd, which was modeled on the Palace of
Versailles. Mihály Pollack, one of the main architects of classicism in
Hungary, came from Vienna. Miklós Ybl, who built primarily in the
Renaissance style, revived this era in Hungary (for example in the opera
house in Budapest).
Imre Steindl built the Parliament building in
Budapest in the neo-Gothic style between 1885 and 1902, which briefly
brought it back into fashion in Hungary. At the turn of the century,
many Art Nouveau buildings were built in the capital, such as the
Institute for the Blind. In Kecskemét, a fine example of Art Nouveau is
the Cifra Palota, built in 1902 according to plans by Géza Márkus with
facade decoration made of Zsolnay ceramics. The architectural style of
residential buildings in Budapest at the turn of the century is typical
of houses with inner courtyards and open corridors (gang); the
apartments in middle-class houses are very similar to today's "old
buildings" in Vienna. They are mainly found in the left bank of Pest on
the "Great Ring" (nagykörút). During the years of communist rule, these
houses (especially in the 7th and 8th districts) were very neglected and
many are still in a dilapidated state (most substandard housing is in
these districts). In the 1930s, several model housing projects were
built in the Bauhaus style, especially on Svábhegy (in the 12th
district).
The first subway line in Austria-Hungary, built just
before the turn of the century and before the Vienna Stadtbahn, runs
from Vörösmarty tér to Mexikói út. The Széchenyi Spa and the zoo are
located in the City Park.
After the Second World War, Hungarian
architects built mainly in the modern style. Socialist realism was only
used briefly during the Stalinist Rákosi dictatorship. Particularly in
the outskirts of the rapidly growing capital Budapest, but also in all
other regions, numerous prefabricated buildings (Hungarian: panelház)
were built during the socialist era to alleviate the housing problem.
The largest individual buildings included the Faluház in Budapest and
the Magasház in Pécs, which was demolished in 2016. Brick and concrete
construction techniques were also used. In the 1970s and 1980s, only
Hungarian organic architecture, represented by Imre Makovecz and György
Csete, stood in opposition to modern architecture. The influence of
international trends increased steadily in the 1980s, as it was now
permitted to open private architectural firms and the country was
increasingly opening up economically. The latest trend is the
construction of "residential parks", residential complexes with good
infrastructure, the style of which is similar to that in Western
European countries. An interesting construction project was the
construction of the new National Theater in Budapest based on plans by
Mária Siklós, which was completed in 2002.
The traditional
architecture of the countryside can still be experienced authentically
in some places today, such as Hollókő, which is part of the UNESCO World
Heritage as a museum village. The thatched houses in Tihany on Lake
Balaton are also listed buildings - in the town center, houses may only
be built in the old style. The diversity of Hungarian village building
culture can be seen in the open-air museum in Szentendre - here,
dismantled original houses from all parts of Hungary have been rebuilt
and made accessible to the public.
The most famous Hungarian painter of the 15th century was Michele
Ongaro (also Pannonio). He worked at the court of Ferrara in Italy. The
Hungarian painters of the 17th and 18th centuries also worked mainly
abroad. In the 19th century, national historical painting emerged (with
well-known painters such as Gyula Benczúr, Bertalan Székely, Mór Than).
Miklós Barabás, a portraitist, was the first Hungarian painter to gain
recognition in his own country. The paintings of Mihály Zichy and Géza
Mészöly are mainly influenced by Romanticism. Mihály Munkácsy combined
open-air painting, which was a precursor to Impressionism, with
realistic elements in a variety of compositions from rural folk life.
The works of Pál Szinyei Merse are similarly designed.
At the
turn of the century, the Nagybánya artists' colony, led by Károly
Ferenczy, and several other groups rose to prominence, mainly as artists
of realistic or romanticized "nature painting". Socialist-realist genre
and history painting was particularly popular in the 1950s and 1960s.
After that, various international movements came into play, but mainly
media art and abstract and realistic painting (for example Imre Bak or
Dóra Maurer). Victor Vasarely, Zsigmond Kemény and László Moholy-Nagy
are some of the leading artists of the 20th century working abroad.
Well-known painters from Hungary today include István Szőnyi, Jenő
Barcsay, László Lakner and Aurél Bernáth.
From the time when the Magyars were not yet Christianized (until
around 950–1000), only a few inscriptions in Hungarian runes have been
preserved. Since the Christianization by Stephen I (Szent István), only
the Latin alphabet was used. The literary language was also Latin. The
oldest completely preserved sacred text in Hungarian is the "Funeral
Oration" (Halotti beszéd) and an attached prayer that was written around
1200. In the 13th and 14th centuries, Latin historiography dominated.
The Gesta Hungarorum by an anonymous author from the 13th century is
particularly worth mentioning here. After the heyday of historiography,
Christian hymn poetry came to the fore. The first completely preserved
poem in Hungarian is the "Old Hungarian Lamentation of the Virgin Mary"
(Ómagyar Máriasiralom), which was only discovered in 1922.
With
the Renaissance king Matthias Corvinus (1458–1490) a cultural boom began
in Hungary, and numerous magnificent codices with Hungarian passages
were created for the Bibliotheca Corviniana. Important Hungarians who
wrote in Latin were Janus Pannonius (1434–1472) and Bálint Balassi
(1554–1594). The most important representative of the
Counter-Reformation was Péter Pázmány (1570–1637), who served as a model
for Hungarian prose. His main work, the "Guide to Divine Truth" (1613),
was an important step in the development of a Hungarian philosophical
language. It was only during this period that Hungarian finally became
established as a written language. Miklós Zrínyi (1620–1664) wrote the
national epic “The Siege of Sziget” (Szigeti veszedelem, 1645/1646),
which was published in German in 1821 and was the first epic ever
written in Hungarian.
Alongside Sándor Baróczi (1735–1809) and
Ábrahám Barcsay (1742–1806), it was above all György Bessenyei (ca.
1747–1811) who connected with the general European development in the
age of Enlightenment and Romanticism. While the city of Pest established
itself as the literary center of Hungary, the Viennese court did not
remain idle and established a dense network of censors. Mihály Csokonai
Vitéz (1773–1805), who introduced new lyrical genres into Hungarian
literature, gained great importance. He wrote the first iambic poem and
– with the verse epic “Dorothea” (Dorottya, 1795), which caricatured the
lifestyle of the nobility – the first comic epic in Hungary.
The
period between 1823 and 1848 was a golden age for Hungarian literature.
There were a number of important poets, including Mihály Vörösmarty
(1800–1855), János Arany (1817–1882) and Sándor Petőfi (1823–1849). The
poem Szózat (1838) by Mihály Vörösmarty, which served as the Hungarian
national anthem during the March Revolution of 1848, was one of the most
important works of this period. Mór Jókai (1825–1904) was also a
representative of Romanticism. Ferenc Kölcsey wrote the national anthem
Himnusz in 1823.
Endre Ady's (1877–1919) most important work is
the "New Poems" from 1906. He was the outstanding figure in Hungarian
literature at the beginning of the 20th century. Gyula Krúdy (1878–1933)
was a style-defining prose writer of Hungarian modernism, whose
extensive literary work includes around 100 volumes of novels and short
stories. Géza Csáth is one of the most important representatives of
modern literature in Hungary in the 20th century. In his novellas, short
stories and diaries he broke the taboos of his time and addressed
psychological depths. His work influenced numerous Hungarian writers.
Mihály Babits (1883–1941) translated Dante's Divine Comedy and wrote
novels, poetry and essays. Dezső Kosztolányi (1885–1936) translated
contemporary works of world literature in “Modern Poets” (1913). Ferenc
Molnár (1878–1952) is the most important Hungarian dramatist, the most
famous of which is his play Liliom (1909). In 1937 he had to go into
exile in the USA. Sándor Márai (1900–1989) was forced to live in exile
after the Second World War.
After the communists seized power,
many Hungarian writers fell silent or emigrated. However, not all
writers bowed to the dogma of socialist realism. Péter Nádas, Tibor Déry
and Magda Szabó critically examined communism in their works.
Imre Kertész (* 1929) processed his experiences as a survivor of the
Holocaust in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and in Buchenwald
in his novel A Fateless Man (Sorstalanság, 1975), for which he was
awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2002.
Other
contemporary authors include Ferenc Juhász and György Konrád and poets
such as László Nagy, Sándor Weöres and János Pilinszky. István Eörsi and
László Krasznahorkai dealt with the exercise of power in totalitarian
systems after the end of the communist regime in Hungary. The right-wing
extremist politician István Csurka was a respected writer. The author
Péter Esterházy (1950–2016), who was born after the war, became
particularly well-known with his “Harmonia Caelestis” and the “Improved
Edition” of the same.
Significant contributions to European music history come from
Hungary. Composers such as Franz Liszt, Imre Kálmán, Franz Lehár, Leó
Weiner, Ernst von Dohnányi, Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály and György Ligeti
should be remembered. Important conductors include Antal Doráti, Ferenc
Fricsay, Georg Solti and György Széll, well-known pianists Géza Anda,
György Cziffra, Andor Foldes, Zoltán Kocsis, and András Schiff and
finally, important vocal soloists, the soprano Sylvia Geszty and the
tenor Sandor Konya. Well-known names in pop music include Katalin
Karády, Omega, Piramis, Kati Kovács, Locomotiv GT, Sarolta Zalatnay,
Illés, Ákos Kovács and Magdolna Rúzsa. Modern folk music also has some
famous performers such as: Márta Sebestyén, Muzsikás and Bea Palya.
Famous music festivals throughout Europe are Sziget and Balaton Sound.
Hungarian string bands have a great place in music culture. From
classical quartets to extended ensembles, they play at events and
festivities of every kind. Art and are widely known as an institution.
This tradition was added to the UNESCO list of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage of Humanity in 2022.
Hungarian film history began at the beginning of the 20th century, when Michael Curtiz and Alexander Korda directed their first films. In the In the turbulent years after the First World War, with the establishment of the short-lived dictatorship of Béla Kun and also after the abolition of the Soviet Republic in August 1919, many Hungarians fled abroad – mostly to nearby Austria. Numerous filmmakers also revived Austrian film in the 1920s: in addition to the aforementioned Michael Curtiz and Alexander Korda, who later became famous in Hollywood and Great Britain, there were also acting stars such as Lucy Doraine, María Corda, Oskar Beregi, Vilma Bánky, Marika Rökk, Marta Eggerth and the film theorist Béla Balázs. The American world star Tony Curtis was also of Hungarian descent.
In Hungary, 40 daily newspapers are published with a total
circulation of 1.6 million, which corresponds to a readership of 194
newspaper copies per 1,000 inhabitants.
The most well-known daily
newspapers were and are:
Népszabadság (social democratic, formerly
the press organ of the state party, approx. 100,000 copies, discontinued
in October 2016)
Magyar Nemzet (right-wing conservative, approx.
50,000 copies, discontinued in April 2018)
Magyar Hírlap (formerly
liberal, now conservative , approx. 25,000 copies)
Népszava
(traditionally social democratic, approx. 20,000 copies)
The most
well-known weekly newspapers include the liberal literary and political
paper Élet és Irodalom, the business magazine Heti Világgazdaság (HVG),
the bourgeois-conservative political magazines Heti Válasz and
Demokrata, the liberal political journals 168 óra and Beszélő, the
women's magazine Nők Lapja, the puzzle magazine Füles, the Reformed
Church's newspaper Reformátusok Lapja, and the Catholic magazine Új
Ember. The tabloid Blikk enjoys great popularity. The satirical magazine
Ludas Matyi was discontinued a few years ago. The Budapest homeless
newspaper is called Fedél nélkül.
Until 2003, radio and television fees existed in Hungary. The Duna
Médiaszolgáltató Zártkörűen Működő Nonprofit Részvénytársaság, in short:
Duna Média (roughly Donau Media Service Company) has been the central
public broadcasting company in Hungary since 2015. It is the only public
broadcaster service provider in the country and was created through the
merger of Duna Televízió (Regional Television), Magyar Radio (National
Radio) and Magyar Televízió (National Television). Two main television
channels (M1, M2) and a number of specialist and regional programs are
produced. All channels from MTV and Duna Televízió AG are also broadcast
terrestrially.
There are also private television channels, the
majority of which have become owned by Hungarian media companies under
the Orbán government These include Magyar ATV, TV2, RTL Klub, Viasat 3,
Hálózat Televízió and special interest channels such as Minimax, Animax
(children's channels), Hír TV (news channel), TV Paprika (gastronomy),
Viasat History (historical documentaries), Spektrum Televízió (technical
documentaries) and branches of international television channels (Viva,
Music Television Hungary, National Geographic Channel, Nickelodeon,
Eurosport, History Channel, Discovery Channel and many others). Duna TV,
Duna II Autonómia, m2, TV Paprika and Budapest TV also broadcast their
programs on satellite channels. An offshoot of the pay-TV program HBO is
HBO Hungary.
Many private and regional channels and channels
dedicated to specific target groups or topics broadcast in Hungary.
The largest telecommunications company is Magyar Telekom. It was
also active in Hungary as T-Mobile. Other telecommunications providers
are Vodafone Magyarország and Pannon GSM.
In 2023, 91.5 percent
of Hungary's population used the Internet.
Football is the most popular sport in Hungary. Between the 1930s and the 1960s, the Hungarian national football team was among the world's best. Hungary took part in the World Cup nine times in total, and won the gold medal at the Olympic Games three times (1952, 1964, and 1968). At the 1938 World Cup and the 1954 World Cup, the team (then also called Aranycsapat, "Golden Team") reached the final and became runner-up. The final of the 1954 World Cup has since been treated as a national tragedy, in which the highly favoured Hungary lost 2:3 to Germany. In 1953, Hungary was the first team ever to win in England, and did so with a score of 6:3. This victory was seen as a symbol, which was also given a political meaning: Hungary had defeated an "imperialist" superpower. A symbolic figure of this team was Ferenc Puskás (Puskás Öcsi). However, Hungary has not taken part in a World Cup final since 1986 and in recent years the national team has not been very successful. The most successful club is Ferencváros Budapest, or Fradi for short, which, in addition to 28 championship titles, is also the only Hungarian club to date to have won an international title (in 1965 they won the Fairs Cup (the forerunner of the UEFA Cup) with a 1:0 win against Juventus Turin). The highest league in Hungarian football is the Nemzeti Bajnokság I, which has changing commercial names due to sponsorship agreements.
Water polo is also considered a national sport in Hungary. With nine Olympic gold medals, the country is considered the most successful in this discipline. One of the reasons for the popularity of water polo is the country's numerous thermal springs, from which a water sports culture later developed. After the first official game on July 30, 1899 in Siófok on Lake Balaton, Hungary became a dominant force in water polo over the years. The national water polo team was undefeated for a total of 110 games between 1928 and 1932 and won the first gold medal at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. In the communist People's Republic, water polo was supported by the state. Hungary managed to win medals at every Olympic Games until 1980, including gold in Melbourne in 1956 when Hungary beat the Soviet Union in the final round of the so-called Melbourne Blood Game during the anti-Soviet uprising. With gold medals in 2000, 2004 and 2008, Hungary became the second team ever to win the triple. Famous players were Dezső Gyarmati, György Kárpáti and Tibor Benedek.
Hungarian athletes are often successful at the Summer Olympics, and
Hungary ranks third in the world in terms of medals per capita. The
first athlete to win an Olympic medal for Hungary was the swimmer Alfréd
Hajós, after whom the sports pool on Margaret Island is named. The
swimmers (Krisztina Egerszegi, Tamás Darnyi, László Cseh, Ágnes Kovács,
Katinka Hosszú), the water polo team, the women's handball team, the
fencers and the pentathletes are particularly successful. László Papp
was a legendary boxer. A figure on a horse was named after the gymnast
Zoltán Magyar: magyar vándor.
Special Olympics Hungary was
founded in 1989 and has participated in the Special Olympics World Games
several times.
Handball also plays an important role in Hungary. The men's clubs KC
Veszprém and SC Szeged and the women's clubs Győri ETO KC and FTC
Budapest regularly compete in the EHF Champions League. Well-known
players include László Nagy, Nándor Fazekas, Tamás Mocsai and Ferenc
Ilyés as well as Anita Görbicz and Katalin Pálinger. Coaches include
Lajos Mocsai and Ildikó Barna.
Hungary has produced a number of
outstanding chess players, including Rudolf Charousek, Géza Maróczy,
László Szabó, Lajos Portisch and András Adorján. More recently, Péter
Lékó, Zoltán Almási and Judit Polgár have been among the world's best
chess players. Hungary has won gold three times at official Chess
Olympiads.
Since 1986, Formula 1 races for the Hungarian Grand
Prix have been held at the Hungaroring. A second internationally
well-known race track is the Pannonia Ring, which mainly hosts
motorcycle races. The Hungarian Zsolt Baumgartner also took part in
Formula 1 in the 2004/05 season. In speedway, the race tracks in
Miskolc, Debrecen and Szeged are internationally well-known.
Hungarian table tennis is also well-known. Victor Barna won a total of
21 world championship titles from the 1920s to the end of the 1930s
(five in singles, seven in doubles and nine world championship titles
with the team), which is still a world record today.
The
Hungarian national ice hockey team qualified for the top division of the
2009 and 2016 Ice Hockey World Championships. The most important teams
in the top league are the record champion Ferencváros TC, Alba Volán
Székesfehérvár, Dunaújvárosi Acélbikák (Dunaújváros), Győri ETO HC, DVTK
Jegesmedvék and Újpest Budapest.
Hungary consists of 19 counties and the capital Budapest. In the
west, bordering Austria, are the counties of Győr-Moson-Sopron and Vas,
which are characterized by their Alpine foothills. A little further
east, near Lake Balaton, are the counties of Veszprém, Somogy and Fejér,
and to the north of them is Komárom-Esztergom County. This area is known
primarily for the Bakony Mountains. Further east is the capital
Budapest, with the surrounding county of Pest and the county of
Bács-Kiskun in the south. This area is dominated by the Pilis Mountains
and the Danube.
Even further east are the counties of Heves,
Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok and Csongrád-Csanád. This area is the space between
the Danube and the Tisza (Hungarian: Tisza). In the south of the region
there are small steppes. In the north are the Mátra Mountains with
Hungary's highest mountain, the Kékes. On the eastern edge of the
country are the counties of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén,
Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg, Hajdú-Bihar and Békés. This area is dominated by
the Puszta in the south and the Bükk in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén.
The
external border with the seven neighboring countries is 2246 kilometers
long, of which 356 kilometers are with Austria, 679 kilometers with
Slovakia, 137 kilometers with Ukraine, 453 kilometers with Romania, 164
kilometers with Serbia, 355 kilometers with Croatia and 102 kilometers
with Slovenia.
The Danube divides Hungary into western Transdanubia with the Little
Hungarian Plain (Hungarian: Kisalföld) and the Great Hungarian Plain
(Hungarian: Alföld), through which the Tisza flows, in the central and
eastern part of the country. The fertile Little Hungarian Plain in
northwestern Hungary consists mainly of the Győr Basin. The varied
landscape is characterized by gently undulating terrain, small hills and
dissected plates. Thanks to the mild climate, intensive agriculture can
be carried out on the fertile loess soils.
The Great Hungarian
Plain takes up almost half of the entire territory of Hungary. It is a
flat, spacious area and is covered with gravel and sand piled up in
prehistoric times. It is crossed by floodplain landscapes along the
Tisza and interspersed with individual forest islands. The draining of
the floodplains and the clearing of the forests have led to the
salinization of the soil. This is how the typical Puszta was created
with draw wells, individual farms and extensive pastoral farming. Due to
complex irrigation measures, fertile soils were created that enable the
cultivation of tobacco, corn and sunflowers. The Hortobágy National Park
was created to protect the original Puszta landscape.
The Hungarian low mountain ranges run from the Zemplén Mountains in
the northeast to the Bakony Forest in the west. Almost all of the low
mountain ranges in Hungary have dense deciduous forests at higher
elevations. The slopes and basins are covered with fertile soils that
enable arable farming, fruit growing and wine growing. Thermal springs
that occur on the edges of the low mountain ranges are evidence of past
and lively volcanism. This is also confirmed by the volcanic rocks of
the Bakony Forest and the Mátra Mountains in the north. With these
exceptions, the other low mountain ranges in Hungary consist of dolomite
and limestone. The forested Mecsek Mountains in the southwest north of
Pécs rise like an island to a height of up to 682 m. In the Mátra
Mountains lies the highest elevation in Hungary, the Kékes, at 1014 m.
Altitude:
Highest elevation: Kékes in the Mátra Mountains, Heves
County, up to 1014 m.
Lowest part of the country: on the Tisza, in
Csongrád-Csanád County, 78 m.
About half of the country is lower than
130 m (Great Hungarian Plain).
The longest river in Hungary is the Tisza, which is 597 kilometers
long and enters the country from the Ukraine in the northeast, then
flows eastwards parallel to the Danube to the south before finally
flowing into the Danube in Serbia. Larger cities along its course are
Tokaj, Tiszaújváros, Szolnok, Csongrád and Szeged. The second main river
in Hungary is the Danube, which is 417 kilometers long and flows through
the entire Hungarian territory. The important cities of Komárom,
Esztergom, the capital Budapest, Dunaújváros, Baja and Mohács are
located along its course. The Danube reaches Hungary in the northwest
and initially flows eastwards as a border river with Slovakia. After the
Danube Bend (Dunakanyar), a 90° turn of the river near Visegrád, it
flows from north to south and leaves Hungary towards the Balkans, where
the river first acts as the border between Croatia and Serbia before
flowing across Serbia towards Romania. Other important rivers in Hungary
are the Kreisch (Körös), the Raab (Rába), the Zagyva, the Drava (Dráva;
forms the border with Croatia over long stretches), the Sajó, the Eipel
(Ipoly), the Zala, the Szamos, the Maros and the Bodrog. Almost all of
the rivers mentioned have their source outside Hungary: the Danube in
the Black Forest (southern Germany), the Tisza in Ukraine, the Drava in
South Tyrol, Hernád and Sajó in Slovakia, the Körös in Transylvania
(western Romania), Mura and Raab in Austria. Only the sources of the
Zagyva and Zala are in Hungary, albeit very close to the border.
The largest lake in Hungary is Lake Balaton in hilly western Hungary. It
is also the largest lake in Central Europe. Alongside the capital
Budapest, Lake Balaton is Hungary's most important tourist area,
primarily because of its beaches and thermal springs. Close by is Lake
Velence (Hungarian: Velencei-tó), also a popular bathing lake with an
important bird sanctuary, but which is largely overshadowed by its "big
brother" Lake Balaton in terms of tourism. To the west of Lake Balaton,
Hévíz is the largest thermal lake in Europe, covering an area of over
four hectares. 75 percent of Lake Neusiedl (Hungarian: Fertő-tó) is in
Austria, only the southernmost part belongs to Hungary. The Fertő-Hanság
National Park includes the Hungarian part of the lake as well as the
swamps in the south and the Hanság, and was declared a UNESCO World
Heritage Site in 2001 together with the Austrian Neusiedler
See-Seewinkel National Park. The largest artificial lake in Hungary is
Lake Tisza (Hungarian: Tisza-tó) in the lowlands in the eastern part of
the country.
Due to its inland location and the shielding effect of the mountains,
Hungary has a relatively dry continental climate with cold winters and
warm summers. The average annual temperature in most of the country is
10 to 11 °C. On the heights of the Bakony Mountains, on the western
border and in the Northern Hungarian Central Mountains, it is below 8
°C. The average temperatures in January are between −3 °C and −1 °C and
in July between +21 °C and +23 °C. The lowest temperature officially
measured in Hungary was −35 °C. It was recorded on February 16, 1940 in
Miskolc. The highest temperature to date was 41.9 °C measured on July
20, 2007 in Kiskunhalas.
The heaviest rainfall occurs in early
summer between May and July. The average rainfall in the west is around
800 millimetres due to the prevailing westerly winds that bring rain,
while in the eastern parts of the country it can fall below 500
millimetres in dry years. The amount of precipitation generally
decreases from west to east.
Hungary is home to around 45,000 animal species and 2,200 plant species. There are a few northern, eastern and southern European species, but the majority are central European species. 855 animal species and 535 plant species are protected. Rare, protected flowers include the Mediterranean hellebore, the wild peony in the Mecsek hills and the Hungarian windflower in the Nyírség region. Wild boar, deer, roe deer and foxes also live in Hungarian forests. Hares, pheasants, partridges and quails live mainly in the agricultural land and in the lowlands. In spring, huge flocks of birds migrate from south to north. These include swallows and storks, which spend the winter in Africa. Protected bird species include the black-winged stilt, the bustard, which is mainly found in the southern lowlands, and the avocet. The Hungarian rivers and lakes are very rich in fish. Bream, carp and pike are native to the area. Eels and amurs were migrated from foreign lakes and rivers and now live in large numbers in Hungarian waters. There are nine national parks, 38 landscape conservation areas and 142 nature reserves on a total area of 816,008 hectares.
Hungary had around 9.6 million inhabitants in 2024. The population fell by 0.6% in 2023. A death surplus contributed to the population decline (birth rate: 9.3 per 1000 inhabitants vs. death rate: 14.2 per 1000 inhabitants). The number of births per woman was statistically 1.5 in 2022, corresponding to the value for the European Union. The life expectancy of the inhabitants of Hungary from birth was 76 years in 2022 (women: 79.5, men: 72.7). The median age of the population in 2021 was 42.7 years. In 2023, 14.4 percent of the population was under 15 years old, while the proportion of people over 64 was 19.7 percent of the population.
By far the largest ethnic group are the Magyars, who make up 92.3% of
the population according to the 2001 census.
The largest of the
ethnic minorities in Hungary are the Roma (see Roma in Hungary).
According to a census, they make up about 2% of the total population;
according to other estimates, the number is significantly higher.
Important ethnic groups are Hungarian Germans (including Danube
Swabians) (0.6%), Slovaks (0.2%) and Croats (0.15%). According to these
statistics, all other ethnic groups are represented by fewer than 10,000
people. In terms of numbers, they are followed by Romanians, Ukrainians,
Serbs, Slovenes and Wends, Poles, Greeks, Bulgarians, Rusyns and
Armenians. There were no other options. Over 27,000 people answered
“unknown”. Over five percent of respondents did not answer the question.
Outside Hungary, around 2.4 million Magyars live in the Carpathian
Basin. Their settlement areas lie beyond today's national borders due to
the Treaty of Trianon as a result of the First World War. This still
occasionally leads to political tensions between neighboring countries
and Hungary.
In 2017, 5.2% of the population was born abroad. The
most common countries of origin were Romania (210,000 people), Ukraine
(50,000) and Serbia (40,000). Large Hungarian minorities live in all
three countries.
Freedom of thought, conscience and religion in Hungary is guaranteed
by Article VII of the Hungarian Constitution. At the same time, its
preamble contains a declaration in which the Hungarian people recognize
the role of Christianity in the preservation of the nation. The right of
self-determination separates the state and the church. There is no
church membership in the true sense of the word in Hungary, and no
church tax. However, it is possible to allocate one percent of income
tax to a religious community. Half a million taxpayers made use of this
option in 2008 in favor of the Catholic Church. This is followed by the
Reformed Church with 160,000 and the Lutherans with 50,000 taxpayers.
The Krishna movement (11,000) is in fourth place, followed by the Jewish
communities (5,000).
In the 2011 census, 39 percent of the
population identified as belonging to the Roman Catholic and Hungarian
Greek Catholic Churches. 11.6 percent of the population were Calvinists,
2.2 percent Lutherans. Before the Holocaust, around 800,000 Jews lived
in Hungary. Of the Jews living in Hungary today, almost 11,000 professed
the Jewish faith in the last census. 18.2 percent of the population said
they were non-denominational or atheists. 27.2 percent did not provide
any information.
A representative survey commissioned by the
European Commission as part of the Eurobarometer in 2020 found that 30
percent of people in Hungary consider religion important, 35 percent
consider it neither important nor unimportant, and 35 percent consider
it unimportant.
Hungarian is the official language in Hungary and is spoken by 99.58%
of the population. Unlike most languages spoken in Central Europe, it
does not belong to the Indo-European language family, but to the
Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic languages, and is distantly related to
Estonian and Finnish. Hungarian is an agglutinative language;
grammatical relationships are expressed using suffixes. The case system
of Hungarian is particularly complex. In linguistics, the number of
cases varies between 18 and 27 due to the final suffixes. The alphabet
consists of 40 Latin letters, including eight digraphs (cs, dz, gy, ly,
ny, sz, ty, zs) and one trigraph (dzs) as separate letters. Q, W, X and
Y belong to the extended version of the alphabet. They are only found in
the Hungarian language as part of foreign words or names. The dialects
of Hungarian differ less from one another than, for example, the German
dialects. The influence of the German language dates back to the time of
the Habsburg rule in Hungary (1699 to 1867 and 1918). In addition to
Hungarian, the languages of the minorities are widespread; see the
article Ethnic groups in Hungary.
While in 1910 the proportion of
Hungarian-speaking people was 54.5%, Hungary is now linguistically
homogeneous following the Treaty of Trianon (1920) and the extensive
expulsion of the Hungarian Germans after the Second World War. However,
since 1920 large Hungarian-speaking minorities have lived outside the
country. In a 2012 Eurobarometer survey, 35% said they could hold a
conversation in at least one foreign language, with English (20%),
German (18%), French (3%) and Russian (3%) being the most frequently
cited foreign languages.
After the eight-year primary school, there is the four-year high
school, as well as six- and eight-year high schools. Dual training is
offered in vocational training. There is also the technical college,
where a special university entrance qualification is also acquired. The
number of bilingual primary schools and high schools is constantly
growing. In Hungary, which is otherwise very Budapest-centered, the
number of bilingual schools is also growing in rural areas. There are
new schools for minorities, for example the Gandhi High School in Pécs,
which offers talented Roma children the opportunity to take the school
leaving examination.
The school leaving examinations are held
uniformly and centrally throughout the country. Since 2005, it has been
possible to take a type of "performance-based high school diploma" in
some subjects, which also counts as an entrance exam for university.
Obtaining the university entrance qualification enables you to study at
universities and technical colleges. Access restrictions apply to many
fields of study, there are entrance exams, and performance in secondary
school or language skills can also be decisive for admission. However,
there are also courses that can be taken without an entrance exam if the
considerable costs are covered by the student themselves.
The most well-known university in Hungary is the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. Medical education in Hungary enjoys a very good international reputation. The Semmelweis University is known worldwide as a university of human medicine. Like the universities of Pécs and Szeged, it offers medical education in Hungarian, German and English. Furthermore, the Andrássy University in Budapest has existed since 2001 as the only completely German-speaking university outside the German-speaking area in Central Europe. The number of private and denominational universities is constantly growing. Private universities charge high tuition fees. A second degree or PhD program at a public university or college must also be partially financed by the students.
According to the Basic Law, Hungary is a parliamentary democracy. The
head of state is the President of the Republic (Hungarian: Köztársasági
elnök), who has mainly representative functions. He is elected by the
Parliament (Hungarian: Országgyűlés) and has a term of office of five
years. The executive power in the country is exercised by the Government
of Hungary, headed by the Prime Minister (Hungarian: Miniszterelnök) as
head of government. The Hungarian government is responsible to
Parliament. The head of Parliament is the Speaker of Parliament
(Hungarian: Országgyűlés elnöke), who is elected from among the members
of Parliament.
On January 1, 2012, a new constitution came into
force, which was already reformed in 2013. It replaced the Constitution
of 1949, which was reformed in 1989. The structure of the state was not
significantly changed. The new constitution and the 2013 reform met with
considerable criticism at home and abroad, including from the EU.
Criticism included the preamble, a curtailment of the powers of the
Constitutional Court and the powers of the newly created Budget Council.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary, the Hungarian
Parliament passed a law on March 30, 2020, according to which the
government was empowered to issue decrees and suspend fundamental rights
and laws for the duration of the emergency situation; elections and
referendums were not to take place. No end date was planned. On June 16,
2020, Parliament decided to lift the highly controversial state of
emergency, which was repealed on June 18, 2020. At the same time,
Parliament passed an implementing law that allows the government to
return to regulations in order to be able to respond to a possible
deterioration of the situation. Critics say Orbán continues to seek to
secure powers through the back door.
After a decade of
Fidesz-KDNP leadership under Viktor Orbán, Freedom House's Nations in
Transit 2020 report downgraded Hungary from a democracy to a
transitional or hybrid regime. According to the report, "the right-wing
alliance... has gradually undermined the rule of law in Hungary and
imposed tight control over the country's independent institutions...
[the right-wing alliance] has steadily rewrote the Hungarian
constitution and eliminated democratic safeguards enshrined in law in
the Constitutional Court, the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Media
Authority and the State Audit Office..." It also limited parliamentary
oversight, independent media, non-governmental organizations and
academics, while consolidating power around the central government.
Parliament has one chamber and has consisted of 199 members since
2014, previously there were 386. Members of parliament are elected for
four years. There have not been any early elections since 1990. The
electoral system is a mixture of majority and proportional
representation. A five percent hurdle applies to the distribution of
list seats. The new electoral law passed in December 2011 increased the
favoring of large parties.
In the parliamentary elections in
April 2014, the governing parties Fidesz of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán
and KDNP together won 133 of the 199 seats in parliament, thus again
achieving the two-thirds majority required for constitutional changes
after 2010. They won the same number of seats in the parliamentary
elections on April 8, 2018 and were able to achieve a two-thirds
majority for the fourth time in a row in the 2022 elections with a total
of 135 seats.
With Hungary's accession to NATO in 1999 and, as part of the EU's
eastward expansion in 2004, to the European Union, two fundamental goals
of Hungarian foreign policy were achieved. On December 17, 2007, Hungary
was the first country to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon, thereby publicly
declaring its pro-European stance. Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány spoke
out strongly in favor of an integrated Europe and advocated
strengthening the community decision-making process according to the
motto of progress through compromise. Since around 2009, Hungary's
European policy has also been influenced by parties that are critical of
or reject the EU, which has led to a partial distancing.
Hungary
is interested in the economic and political stability of its southern
neighbors; it supported the democratic opposition in Yugoslavia even
before the fall of Slobodan Milošević. Infrastructure links, especially
the motorways to the neighbors, are to be further expanded and economic
relations with the future EU member states are to be intensified.
Hungary also advocated Croatia's accession to the EU. Within the
European Union, cooperation within the Visegrád Group (with the Czech
Republic, Slovakia and Poland) is to be continued. Hungary held the
presidency in 2001 and 2002.
Since 2016, the country has had
observer status in the Community of Portuguese-speaking countries (see
also Portuguese-Hungarian relations).
Hungary has been an
observer of the Organization of Turkic States since September 2018.
Viktor Orbán stated that Hungarians, as Magyars, are proud of their
origins and relationship with the Turkic peoples of Central Asia. With
the aim of deepening the connection with Europe and the European Union,
a representative office of the Organization of Turkic States was set up
in Budapest in September 2019 and inaugurated with the participation of
the Turkish Foreign Minister.
Of the 12.5 million indigenous Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin
region, around three million live outside the country's borders as a
result of the Treaty of Trianon and the Paris Peace Conference in 1946.
Since the amendment of the Hungarian Constitution in 1989, Hungarian
governments have been obliged to look after the concerns and interests
of Hungarian minorities beyond the borders and to promote
Hungarian-Hungarian relations and cultural and economic exchange.
This has resulted in interstate conflicts with neighbours, which
have become particularly pronounced after 2000. In 2001, a law was
passed with benefits for Hungarians living abroad. At the same time,
Hungary also concluded minority agreements and basic treaties on
friendly relations with its neighbouring states in order to resolve the
minority issue of Hungarians living abroad. However, as nationalist and
patriotic movements increased both in Hungary and in its neighbouring
countries, which was also reflected in the parliamentary presence of
right-wing nationalist parties and their participation in government,
bilateral relations deteriorated, particularly with Slovakia, where
Magyars make up almost 10% of the population. The bilateral tensions
between Slovakia and Hungary were evident in the conflict over the
refusal of Hungarian President László Sólyom to enter Komárno, Slovakia,
on 21 August 2009, in the amendment of the Slovak language law, which
significantly restricted the official use of the Hungarian language in
Slovakia, and in the entry into force of the Patriotism Act in Slovakia.
In fulfillment of a key election promise by the winner of the 2010
parliamentary election, Fidesz, the newly constituted Hungarian
parliament passed a law on dual citizenship on 26 May 2010, which allows
Hungarians living abroad to apply for Hungarian citizenship regardless
of whether they have Hungarian residency. The immediate reaction of the
Slovak parliament was to pass a law that threatens Slovak citizens who
obtain Hungarian citizenship with the withdrawal of their existing
citizenship and with removal from public office and administration.
With the victory of an alliance of conservative-liberal parties,
which included the Slovak-Hungarian party Most–Híd, which is committed
to peaceful coexistence between Hungarians and Slovaks, in the 2010
national election in Slovakia, Slovak-Hungarian relations have eased.
On May 1, 2004, with the approval of a clear majority of the
population, Hungary joined the European Union as part of the 2004 EU
enlargement. In the referendum on EU accession on April 12, 2003, 84%
voted in favor of joining, and 45.6% of the eight million eligible
voters went to vote.
In the European elections in 2004, 2009,
2014 and 2019, Fidesz, in alliance with the KDNP, was by far the
strongest party. The current Hungarian member of the EU Commission is
Olivér Várhelyi.
On December 17, 2007, Hungary was the first
country to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon, thereby declaring its
pro-European stance. In the first half of 2011, Hungary took over the
Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first time; the
focus of this Hungarian Presidency was, among other things, EU energy
policy. However, at the beginning of the Council Presidency, there were
also controversies with other EU partners, mainly due to the
controversial Hungarian media law.
On September 12, 2018, the
European Parliament decided to initiate proceedings under Article 7 of
the EU Treaty for violation of fundamental European values. Four fifths
of the other EU states would have to vote to determine the risk of a
serious violation of fundamental European values; a unanimous decision
would be required for sanctions up to and including the withdrawal of
Hungary's voting rights in the European Council.
On July 15,
2021, the European Union initiated infringement proceedings under
Article 258 (Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union) against
Hungary due to a controversial law intended to "protect" children and
young people from "homosexual propaganda". The President of the EU
Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, described the law as a "disgrace". On
September 15, 2022, the EU Parliament revoked Hungary's democratic
status. Since December 2022, the EU has been blocking money earmarked
for Hungary from the Cohesion Fund amounting to 22 billion euros for the
period 2021-2027 and a further 5.8 billion euros from the Covid
reconstruction fund, a total of almost a fifth of Hungary's estimated
economic output this year.
In April 2023, President Katalin Novák
was the first president since Orbán took office for the second time in
2010 to exercise her right to refer a law back to parliament once in a
law that was important for Orbán's conservative ideology. The law was
intended to restrict the rights of homosexual and transsexual people
and, among other things, provided that citizens could anonymously report
same-sex couples raising children together. The law is not in line with
EU legal norms.
Hungary has a comparatively low industrial production compared to
other Eastern European countries. In 2020, coal, oil and nuclear energy
accounted for two-thirds of Hungary's energy production. The Mátra
coal-fired power plant is scheduled to be shut down in 2030 at the
earliest. Hungary, like Poland and the Czech Republic, was critical of
the EU's "Green Deal" plan with its goal of "climate neutrality" in
2050.
The introduction of the European Natura 2000 network of
protected areas had a lasting impact on the protection of areas in
Hungary. Natura 2000 areas make up 59% of the total area of all
protected areas in Hungary. The Ministry of Agriculture is responsible
for the country's nature conservation policy and environmental issues
and the implementation of European programs.
Since Victor Orbán took office, independent media in the country have
almost disappeared. Shortly after taking power, the Hungarian parliament
passed a new media law on December 21, 2010, which came into force on
January 1, 2011. The "State Authority for Media and Communications"
(Nemzeti Média- és Hírközlési Hatóság, NMHH), which had been founded
shortly before and whose management is now appointed solely by the
government, was given supervision over all media in the state, no longer
just the public ones. It also includes restrictions on the protection of
informants and editorial confidentiality and allows for fines for
"unbalanced" reporting. Both the law and the media authority were
controversially discussed at national and international level by
numerous experts, scientists, journalists and politicians. Die Zeit
reported: "Hungary introduces censorship".
In the following
years, numerous media outlets were bought up by companies close to the
government, such as Brit Media, and brought into line or closed down.
For example, the newspaper with the highest circulation, Népszabadság,
which regularly reported on scandals in the Orban government and was
last published in 2016. All regional newspapers have also been in the
hands of businessmen close to the government since 2017. The majority of
the pro-government media were finally transferred by the entrepreneurs
in 2018 to a foundation run by politicians loyal to the government. An
independent regional press no longer exists. The largest private radio
station (Retro) and one of the largest news portals (Origo) also came
under the indirect control of the government.
In 2020, the
government-critical news portal Index.hu also lost importance when it
was also bought up by a pro-government media entrepreneur, after which
almost all employees resigned. A few weeks later, the editor-in-chief of
the liberal weekly newspaper "168 óra" was fired after an investor close
to the government became a co-owner. Deutsche Welle writes about the
procedure: "These entrepreneurial maneuvers, which often take place
quietly and over longer periods of time, are part of Orbán's media
salami tactics."
In the same year, Klubrádio, the last
independent radio station, was shut down after the media supervisory
authority did not renew its broadcasting license because the station had
repeatedly violated media laws. One of the violations was that the
proportion of Hungarian and foreign music had not been reported on time.
The station was considered the "last bastion of sophisticated
independent radio journalism in Hungary, the only radio station still
critical of the government." The government had already restricted its
broadcasting area in previous years. A presenter from the radio station
put it this way to Deutsche Welle: "It is part of the unscrupulous logic
of a dictatorial one-party system to bury or absorb everything that is
disturbing."
According to the Tagesspiegel, reporting in the
media that are now state-controlled or loyal to the government now
includes "unscrupulous propaganda" and "denigration of the opposition."
A new NMHH law stipulates that certain topics may only be reported on
after consultation with the government.
The Hungarian Armed Forces (Magyar Honvédség) have been a
professional army since 2004, currently numbering 23,000 men (2021) and
are divided into the Army (Szárazföldi Haderő) and the Air Force
(Légierő). The manpower is to increase to 30,000 by 2026, with the
long-term goal being over 37,000 men. There is also a reserve of 11,000
men, which is to be increased to 20,000 men by 2028. The Supreme
Commander is the President of Hungary.
Hungary's defense spending
amounted to 1.6% of gross domestic product in 2021 and is expected to
reach NATO's two percent target by 2024 at the latest. Expenditure would
then be more than three times that of 2010.
Since the armed
forces' equipment still largely consists of weapons from before 1989,
the government decided in 2017 on a comprehensive program (Zrínyi 2026)
to modernize the armed forces with Western technology. In 2018, 44
Leopard 2 A7 and 24 new self-propelled howitzers 2000 were ordered to
replace the Soviet T-72 and BTR-80A tanks. In 2020, Hungary became the
first NATO customer of this armored vehicle with the order for 218 new
Lynx KF 41 infantry fighting vehicles.
The air force is to be
supplemented with the most modern helicopters and transport aircraft.
A small detachment of Hungarian soldiers served in Iraq. The
Hungarian Air Force's reserve base in Kaposvár was rented from the US
Air Force before the Iraq war. It remains unclear whether US
intelligence officers were also prepared or trained there for the war in
Iraq. In addition, Hungarian stabilization troops are stationed in the
Balkans within the NATO framework, and Hungary is also involved in
Afghanistan with its own troops.
Hungary is divided into 19 counties and the capital Budapest. The
country was divided into seven regions in 1999, partly to meet the
requirements of the European Union. Until 2013, the counties were in
turn divided into small areas, which corresponded to level LAU 1 in the
EU NUTS system. In 2013, the small areas were replaced by counties
(járások).
Within the counties there are 25 towns with county
rights. These belong to the county in administrative terms, but their
residents do not vote for the county council (Megyei Közgyűlés). In
addition to the county seats, the cities of Baja (Bács-Kiskun County),
Dunaújváros (Fejér County), Érd (Pest County), Esztergom
(Komárom-Esztergom County), Hódmezővásárhely (Csongrád-Csanád County),
Nagykanizsa (Zala County) and Sopron also apply (Győr-Moson-Sopron
County) as cities with county law.
Hungary generated a gross domestic product (GDP) of 143.8 billion
euros in 2019, which corresponded to around 14,720 euros per capita.
Compared to the EU's GDP expressed in purchasing power standards,
Hungary achieved an index of 73 (EU-27 = 100; 2019). By far the largest
trading partner is Germany, which accounted for 26% of imports and 28%
of exports in 2017. A large proportion of exports are made by
foreign-owned companies. Important industrial locations are primarily
the Budapest area and the border region with Austria. The largest
Hungarian company is the mineral oil company MOL, followed by Audi
Hungaria Motor Kft.
Hungary has developed into an important
location for the automotive industry. Foreign manufacturers have built
factories in Hungary, including Mercedes-Benz (in Kecskemét), BMW (in
Debrecen), Audi (in Győr), Suzuki (Magyar Suzuki, Esztergom) and Opel
(in Szentgotthárd). For a long time, the commercial vehicle brands Ganz,
Ikarus and Rába were important domestic vehicle manufacturers, which
were particularly successful in exports during the Eastern Bloc era, but
today have only minor, mainly national significance.
Tourism in
Budapest, in the Puszta and at Lake Balaton plays an important role as a
source of income. Hungary is increasingly marketing its more than 350
thermal springs to tourists. With over 15.2 million tourists, Hungary
was the 23rd most visited country in the world in 2016. Tourism revenue
in the same year amounted to 5.6 billion US dollars.
In the Global Competitiveness Index, which measures a country's
competitiveness, Hungary ranks 60th out of 137 countries (as of
2017-2018). In the Index of Economic Freedom, the country ranks 48th out
of 177 countries in 2022.
Gross domestic product (GDP) (2021):
€153.5 billion
Gross domestic product per capita (2021): €15,810
Economic growth (2021): 7.1%
Monthly gross income (2018): €1,054
Monthly net income (2018): €701
Imports (2021): €120.9 billion
Exports (2021): €119.9 billion
Inflation rate (2018): 3.7%
Unemployment rate (September 2022): 3.7%
Employment distribution
(2016)
Industry: 30%
Agriculture/forestry: 5%
Services: 65%
From 2010 to 2018, the current account was positive, while it was
strongly negative until 2008 and has been negative again since 2019.
The inflation rate is subject to greater fluctuations than in the
Eurozone. In 2012 it was 5.7%, in 2014 and 2015 there was slight
deflation, and in 2021 the inflation rate was 5.1%.
After the end
of communist rule, the unemployment rate according to the definition of
the Hungarian Statistical Office rose to 12.1% by 1993 and fell to 5.7%
by 2001. In 2005 another significant increase began, reaching 11.2% in
2010, followed by a significant decline from 2014 to 3.7% in 2018. In
2020 it was 4.3%. Unemployment among the population under 25 reached a
peak of 28.2% in 2012, fell to 10.2% in 2018 and 12.8% in 2020. Hungary
has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the EU.
The
employment rate of the population aged 20 to 64 was 62.1% in 2004, the
year of accession to the EU, and 59.9% in 2010. It then rose
significantly and reached 75% in 2020 (for comparison: EU 72.4%, Germany
80%, Austria 75.5%). In 2015, 4.9% of all workers worked in agriculture,
30.3% in industry and 64.5% in the service sector. The total number of
employees is estimated at 4.6 million in 2017, of which 45.8% are women.
There is only one tax rate (flat tax) of 15 percent for income tax. The corporate tax rate is 9 percent, the standard rate for sales tax is 27 percent.
The national debt rose from 52.3% to 80.3% of gross domestic product
(GDP) between 2001 and 2011, after which it fell to 65.3% by 2019. In
2020, the national debt was 79.3% and in 2021 it was 76.8% of GDP. The
public budget deficit peaked in 2006 at 9.3% of GDP. Between 2012 and
2019, the deficit fluctuated between 1.8% and 2.8% of GDP, and in 2020
and 2021 it was over 7%.
In 2021, government spending amounted to
48.4% of GDP (Germany 51.3%, Austria 56.0%, EU average 51.5%),
including:
Social security 13.1%
Health: 5.6%
Education: 5.0%
Military: 1.1%
Hungary was particularly hard hit by the global
financial crisis of 2007–2008. Due to the high double deficit (current
account and national budget) and the high level of private household
debt, which was largely denominated in foreign currencies, the forint
suffered significant losses against the euro in October 2008. The
central bank then raised interest rates by three percentage points. The
European Central Bank also had to provide Hungary with a swap of five
billion euros because Hungarian banks had largely stopped granting
foreign currency loans. After the market for Hungarian government bonds
also collapsed, Hungary asked the International Monetary Fund for help.
On October 27, 2008, the IMF announced that it would support Hungary
with a rescue package to prevent the otherwise inevitable national
bankruptcy of Hungary. The European Union and the World Bank are also
participating in the rescue package; Hungary has been promised a loan of
20 billion euros in total. On November 21, 2011, the Hungarian
government again asked the International Monetary Fund and the EU for
financial support as a precautionary measure. The yield on Hungarian
government bonds had risen gradually in the months before, which also
made refinancing the debt more expensive.
On May 23, 2014, the
IMF ended the 'Article IV consultation'. Hungary repaid IMF loans early.
According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), 17.2 million tourists visited Hungary in 2018. In 2019, the number of tourists fell by 1.3% to 16.9 million. The most important travel destination by far was the capital Budapest. This was followed by the spa towns of Hévíz, Hajdúszoboszló and Bük as well as the seaside resorts of Balatonfüred, Siófok and Zalakaros on Lake Balaton. The added value of tourism was equivalent to 6.8% of Hungary's gross domestic product, and around 428,000 people are employed in the tourism sector. Most tourists in 2018 came to Hungary from Germany, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic and Austria.
In the Logistics Performance Index, which is compiled by the World Bank and measures the quality of infrastructure, Hungary ranked 52nd out of 160 countries in 2023.
In 2021, there were 32,521 kilometers of state roads (96% of which
were paved) and 183,987 kilometers of municipal roads (27% of which were
paved).
The infrastructure is being gradually expanded. In 2021,
the length of motorways and expressways was 2,390 kilometers, compared
to 505 km in 2001. There are five motorways that run towards Budapest.
Three of them are fully completed, the M1, the M5 and the M7. The M1
runs from the Austrian border at Hegyeshalom to the capital Budapest.
The M15 branches off from it towards Bratislava. The M5 runs from the
Serbian border at Röszke in the south to Budapest. The M7 is
particularly important from a tourist point of view, as it connects
Budapest with the Balaton tourist area and with Croatia (or with
Slovenia via the M70). Construction of this first Hungarian motorway
began in 1964, but it was interrupted for several kilometers shortly
after Siófok until 2005.
Other existing motorways are gradually
being extended to the national borders, such as the M3. The M3 allows
the country to be crossed from west to east, running from Budapest to
Nyíregyháza. Budapest is connected to Miskolc and northeastern Hungary
via the M3 and M30. The construction contract for the extension to the
Ukrainian border was awarded in 2020. Debrecen is connected to the M3
via the M35. The first section of the M6 towards Pécs was opened in
the summer of 2006 between Budapest and Dunaújváros. Since spring 2010,
193 of the planned 212 kilometers (Budapest–Croatian border) have been
open to traffic.
Another important motorway is the M0, which will
be expanded in the future to form a complete ring around Budapest and
will accommodate through traffic. In 2020, 79 kilometers of the planned
108 kilometers will be open to traffic. The M0 will then connect the
motorways (anticlockwise) M1, M7, M6, M5, M4, M31, M3 and M2 around
Budapest. At the end of the current expansion phase, the M2 and the 11th
highway (towards Esztergom) will be connected. Other motorways to and
from Budapest such as the M10 (Budapest–Esztergom) or an extensive ring
around Budapest such as the M11 (Esztergom–Hatvan) are currently being
planned.
In Hungary, almost every community can be reached by
bus. Bus lines run between larger cities every 30 to 60 minutes, while
smaller towns and villages are usually served every one to two hours.
The largest bus company in Hungary is Volánbusz - it transports around
1.6 million passengers a day. Buses operated by Volánbusz can be used
free of charge by people up to 14 years of age and over 65 years of age.
The railway lines, like the motorways, run in a star shape towards
the centrally located capital. The operating companies are the Hungarian
MÁV (Magyar Államvasutak Rt.) and, in western Hungary, the
Austro-Hungarian GySEV/Raaberbahn.
In 2021, the standard gauge
rail network had a length of 7,558 kilometers, of which 3,221 were
electrified and 1,315 had at least two tracks.
In international
rail traffic between Hungary and its neighboring countries, MÁV trains
operate as EuroCity (for example to Vienna, Prague, Berlin and Hamburg)
or as InterCity (for example to Zagreb or Bucharest). Seven times a day,
the ÖBB Railjet connects Budapest with Vienna and beyond to destinations
in southern Germany and Switzerland.
While mainly air-conditioned
open-plan and compartment carriages are used in international traffic,
non-air-conditioned passenger carriages from before 1990 still
predominate in domestic traffic. Among other things, Halberstadt
center-entrance carriages and control cars derived from them can be
found; these were sold to Hungary by Deutsche Bahn after 1993.
Since March 2024, all people aged 65 and over and under 14 have been
able to travel free of charge in 2nd class.
International airports are Budapest Liszt Ferenc southeast of
Budapest (Terminals 1, 2a, 2b), Debrecen southwest of the city of the
same name in eastern Hungary and, since spring 2006, Hévíz-Balaton
Airport near Sármellék in southwestern Hungary. Hungary's largest
airline is the low-cost airline Wizz Air, which is based in Budapest.
There are also a number of other airports in Hungary, such as
Győr-Pér, Nyíregyháza and Pécs-Pogány.
Primary energy consumption in 2018 was 2700 oil units per capita
(Germany 3600, Austria 3700), and electricity consumption per capita was
4.4 megawatt hours (Germany 6.9; Austria 8.4 MWh).
Nuclear energy
accounts for by far the largest share of electricity generation. In
2020, its share was 45.4%. In the same year, the shares of other types
of electricity generation were: gas 25.7%, coal 10.9%, photovoltaics
6.9%, biomass 5.6%, wind power 1.9%, waste incineration 1.9%, hydropower
0.7%, oil 0.1%, other 0.5%.
In contrast to other Danube riparian
states, Hungary does not have any major hydroelectric power plants on
the Danube. This is mainly because the construction of the
Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Danube hydroelectric power plant planned together
with Slovakia met with great resistance from the Hungarian population.
Plans for further hydroelectric power plants were subsequently
abandoned.
The Paks Nuclear Power Plant is located 100 kilometers
south of Budapest directly on the Danube; its four nuclear reactors are
the only ones in Hungary. The nuclear power plant is the largest
employer in the Paks region. One reactor each went online in 1982, 1984,
1986 and 1987. All are Soviet types (VVER). Between 11,000 and 14,000
GWh of electricity are generated annually at the Paks nuclear power
plant. The radioactive waste is temporarily stored in the Püspökszilágy
storage facility. In January 2014, an agreement was reached with the
Russian Rosatom Group to build two additional reactor blocks with a
capacity of up to 2 gigawatts.
Hungary covers a significant part
of its electricity needs through imports. In 2020, electricity
consumption was 46,602 gigawatt hours (GWh), while exports amounted to
7,498 GWh, compared to imports of 19,176 GWh.
In 2019, Hungary
had the second lowest electricity price for private households in the EU
after Bulgaria, with an average of 11.2 cents per kilowatt hour.
Electricity prices for business customers were just below the EU
average.
By far the most important energy source for heat
generation is gas, in 2020 the share was 67% (biomass 7.4%, coal 6.4%,
geothermal energy 5.4%, waste incineration 7.4%, nuclear energy 1%, oil
0.04%, other 5.4%). Hungary gets 80 to 85% of its natural gas from
Russia. In 2021 the country agreed a contract with Russia for 4.5
billion cubic meters of gas per year over 15 years. In April 2023
Hungary agreed with the Russian company Gazprom that it could supply gas
to Hungary beyond the agreed amount. Hungary warned the EU against
prohibiting this agreement.
Due to its basin-like structure, Hungary has relatively large water
resources compared to other Central European countries, amounting to
around 120 billion cubic meters of fresh water per year. However, 90
percent of this comes from rivers that originate outside the country's
borders (Danube, Drava, Tisza). This means that the water quality of
these rivers can only be influenced to a limited extent by national
measures. In addition, Hungary has national problems, which mainly
result from the long-term neglect of wastewater treatment.
In
Hungary, 90 percent of drinking water comes from groundwater resources.
The total annual water withdrawal is around 5,500 million m³, of which
around 85% is surface water and 15% is groundwater. The average total
water withdrawal per capita in Hungary is around 550 cubic meters per
year or 1,500 liters per day, which is about twice the values of
Poland, Romania or the Czech Republic and slightly above German
consumption (500 m³/year/person). Of this amount, around 13 percent is
used for public water supply (195 l/day/person), around 78 percent for
industry and energy production and around 9 percent for agriculture.
Before the system change, water consumption was significantly higher.
The significant decline is due to the closure of bauxite and coal mines,
the declining demand from industry and the steady increase in water
prices, which have been set by municipalities since 1990 and have risen
considerably due to the reduction of subsidies. In Budapest, for
example, in 2004, drinking water charges were €0.56/m³ and sewage
charges €0.73/m³ (conversion rate as of 12 May 2004). Many
municipalities now also apply a progressive water tariff that penalises
high water consumption.
The proportion of households connected to the public sewer system is
around 51 percent, affecting around 60 percent of the population.
However, the proportion of households connected to the sewer network
varies depending on the size of the city. In the capital Budapest, it is
around 90 percent, in other large Hungarian cities it is 75 percent. In
medium-sized cities, the connection rate is 45 to 50 percent, and in
villages it is only 35 percent. However, connection to the sewer network
says little about the subsequent treatment of the water. Only around a
third of the population is currently connected to sewage treatment
plants, three quarters of which are equipped with both a primary and
secondary treatment stage. A tertiary treatment stage in which
phosphorus and nitrogen are removed is found in only a very few plants.
Around a third of the wastewater from households that are not connected
to a public sewer network is treated decentrally, mainly in small sewage
treatment plants, usually multi-chamber settling tanks. Around 3,200
municipalities in Hungary have no sewage system or treatment plant at
all. In contrast, more than 90 percent of industrial wastewater is
properly treated.
Every year, more than 100,000 tons of sewage
sludge in dry mass are generated in Hungary through municipal
wastewater, most of which is dumped in landfills, but is also used in
agriculture as fertilizer or composted.
In 2019, 10,913 professional and 19,965 volunteer firefighters were organized in the fire service in Hungary across the country, working in 151 fire stations and firehouses, in which 1,040 fire engines and 108 turntable ladders or telescopic masts are available. The proportion of women is two percent. 2,412 children and young people are organized in the youth fire service. The Hungarian fire services were called out to 79,922 operations in the same year, and 20,913 fires had to be extinguished. The fire brigades recovered 113 dead people from fires and rescued 758 injured people. The national fire brigade association Magyar Tűzoltó Szövetség represents the Hungarian fire brigade in the World Fire Brigade Federation CTIF.