loss of life. In addition to the over 600,000 Hungarian Jews killed,
as many as 280,000
other Hungarians were raped, murdered and executed or deported for slave labour by Czechoslovaks, Soviet
Red Army troops, and Yugoslavs.
On 13 February 1945, Budapest surrendered; by April, German troops left the country under Soviet military occupation. 200,000 Hungarians were expelled from Czechoslovakia in exchange for 70,000 Slovaks living in Hungary. 202,000 ethnic Germans were expelled to Germany, and through the 1947
Paris Peace Treaties, Hungary was again reduced to its immediate post-Trianon borders.
Communism (1945–1989)
Following the defeat of Nazi Germany, Hungary became a
satellite state of the Soviet Union. The Soviet leadership selected
Mátyás Rákosi to front the
Stalinisation of the country, and Rákosi ''de facto'' ruled Hungary from 1949 to 1956. His government's policies of militarisation, industrialisation, collectivisation, and war compensation led to a severe decline in living standards. In imitation of Stalin's
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
, the Rákosi government established a secret political police, the
ÁVH
The State Protection Authority ( hu, Államvédelmi Hatóság, ÁVH) was the secret police of the People's Republic of Hungary from 1945 to 1956. The ÁVH was conceived as an external appendage of the Soviet Union's KGB in Hungary responsible ...
, to enforce the regime. In the ensuing purges, approximately 350,000 officials and intellectuals were imprisoned or executed from 1948 to 1956. Many freethinkers, democrats, and Horthy-era dignitaries were secretly arrested and extrajudicially interned in domestic and foreign
gulag
The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...
s. Some 600,000 Hungarians were deported to Soviet labour camps, where at least 200,000 died.
After Stalin's death in 1953, the Soviet Union pursued a programme of
de-Stalinisation
De-Stalinization (russian: десталинизация, translit=destalinizatsiya) comprised a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and the thaw brought about by ascension ...
that was inimical to Rákosi, leading to his deposition. The following political cooling saw the ascent of
Imre Nagy to the premiership and the growing interest of students and intellectuals in political life. Nagy promised market liberalisation and political openness, while Rákosi opposed both vigorously. Rákosi eventually managed to discredit Nagy and replace him with the more hard-line
Ernő Gerő
Ernő Gerő (; born Ernő Singer; 8 July 1898 – 12 March 1980) was a Hungarian Communist leader in the period after World War II and briefly in 1956 the most powerful man in Hungary as the second secretary of its ruling communist party.
Ear ...
. Hungary joined the
Warsaw Pact in May 1955, as societal dissatisfaction with the regime swelled. Following the firing on peaceful demonstrations by Soviet soldiers and secret police, and rallies throughout the country on 23 October 1956, protesters took to the streets in Budapest, initiating the
1956 Revolution
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...
. In an effort to quell the chaos, Nagy returned as premier, promised free elections, and took Hungary out of the Warsaw Pact.
The violence nonetheless continued as revolutionary militias sprung up against the Soviet Army and the ÁVH; the roughly 3,000-strong resistance fought Soviet tanks using
Molotov cocktail
A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with fla ...
s and machine-pistols. Though the preponderance of the Soviets was immense, they suffered heavy losses, and by 30 October 1956, most Soviet troops had withdrawn from Budapest to garrison the countryside. For a time, the Soviet leadership was unsure how to respond but eventually decided to intervene to prevent a destabilisation of the Soviet bloc. On 4 November, reinforcements of more than 150,000 troops and 2,500 tanks entered the country from the Soviet Union. Nearly 20,000 Hungarians were killed resisting the intervention, while an additional 21,600 were imprisoned afterward for political reasons. Some 13,000 were interned and 230 brought to trial and executed. Nagy was secretly tried, found guilty, sentenced to death, and executed by hanging in June 1958. Because borders were briefly opened, nearly a quarter of a million people fled the country by the time the revolution was suppressed.
Kádár era (1956–1988)
After a second, briefer period of Soviet military occupation,
János Kádár, Nagy's former minister of state, was chosen by the Soviet leadership to head the new government and chair the new ruling
Socialist Workers' Party. Kádár quickly normalised the situation. In 1963, the government granted a general amnesty and released the majority of those imprisoned for their active participation in the uprising. Kádár proclaimed a new policy line, according to which the people were no longer compelled to profess loyalty to the party if they tacitly accepted the socialist regime as a fact of life. In many speeches, he described this as, "Those who are not against us are with us." Kádár introduced new planning priorities in the economy, such as allowing farmers significant plots of private land within the collective farm system (''háztáji gazdálkodás''). The living standard rose as consumer goods and food production took precedence over military production, which was reduced to one-tenth of pre-revolutionary levels.
In 1968, the
New Economic Mechanism introduced free-market elements into the socialist command economy. From the 1960s through the late 1980s, Hungary was often referred to as "the happiest barrack" within the Eastern bloc. During the latter part of the Cold War Hungary's
GDP per capita was fourth only to
East Germany,
Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union.
[*] As a result of this relatively high
standard of living
Standard of living is the level of income, comforts and services available, generally applied to a society or location, rather than to an individual. Standard of living is relevant because it is considered to contribute to an individual's quality ...
, a more liberalised economy, a less censored press, and less restricted travel rights, Hungary was generally considered one of the more liberal countries in which to live in Central Europe during communism. In the 1980s, however, living standards steeply declined again because of
a worldwide recession to which communism was unable to respond. By the time Kádár died in 1989, the Soviet Union was in steep decline and a younger generation of reformists saw liberalisation as the solution to economic and social issues.
Third Republic (1989–present)
Hungary's transition from communism to democracy and capitalism (''rendszerváltás'', "regime change") was peaceful and prompted by economic stagnation, domestic political pressure, and changing relations with other Warsaw Pact countries. Although the
Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party began
Round Table Talks with various opposition groups in March 1989, the reburial of Imre Nagy as a revolutionary martyr that June is widely considered the symbolic end of communism in Hungary. Over 100,000 people attended the Budapest ceremony without any significant government interference, and many speakers openly called for Soviet troops to leave the country. Free elections were held
in May 1990, and the
Hungarian Democratic Forum
The Hungarian Democratic Forum ( hu, Magyar Demokrata Fórum, MDF) was a centre-right political party in Hungary. It had a Hungarian nationalist, national-conservative, Christian-democratic ideology. The party was represented continuously in the ...
, a major conservative opposition group, was elected to the head of a coalition government.
József Antall
József Tihamér Antall Jr. ( hu, ifjabb Antall József Tihamér, ; 8 April 1932 – 12 December 1993) was a Hungarian teacher, librarian, historian, and statesman who served as the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Hungary, holdin ...
became the first democratically elected prime minister since World War II.
With the removal of state subsidies and rapid privatisation in 1991, Hungary was affected by a severe economic recession. The Antall government's austerity measures proved unpopular, and the Communist Party's legal and political heir, the
Socialist Party, won the subsequent
1994 elections. This abrupt shift in the political landscape was repeated in
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
and
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
; in each electoral cycle, the governing party was ousted and the erstwhile opposition elected. Like most other post-communist European states, however, Hungary broadly pursued an
integrationist agenda,
joining Join may refer to:
* Join (law), to include additional counts or additional defendants on an indictment
*In mathematics:
** Join (mathematics), a least upper bound of sets orders in lattice theory
** Join (topology), an operation combining two to ...
NATO in 1999 and the European Union
in 2004. As a NATO member, Hungary was involved in the
Yugoslav Wars.
Democratic erosion and shift into authoritarianism (2010–present)
In 2006,
major nationwide protests erupted after it was revealed that Prime Minister
Ferenc Gyurcsány had claimed in
a closed-door speech that his party "lied" to win the
recent elections. The popularity of left-wing parties plummeted in the ensuing political upheaval, and in 2010,
Viktor Orbán
Viktor Mihály Orbán (; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian politician who has served as prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has presided over Fidesz since 1993, with a brief break between 2 ...
's
national-conservative Fidesz
Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (; hu, Fidesz – Magyar Polgári Szövetség) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Hungary, led by Viktor Orbán.
It was formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Youn ...
party was
elected Elected may refer to:
* "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973
* ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008
*The Elected, an American indie rock band
See also
*Election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a populatio ...
to a parliamentary
supermajority. The legislature consequently approved a
new constitution, among other sweeping governmental and legal changes. Although these developments were met with and still engender controversy, Fidesz secured a second parliamentary supermajority
in 2014, a third
in 2018, and a fourth
in 2022. In the late 2010s, Orbán's government came under increased international scrutiny over alleged rule-of-law violations. In 2018, the
European Parliament voted to act against Hungary under the terms of
Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union
Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union is a procedure in the treaties of the European Union ( EU) to suspend certain rights from a member state. While rights can be suspended, there is no mechanism to expel a state from the union.
The procedu ...
. Hungary has and continues to dispute these allegations. In 2022, the
European Parliament passed a resolution stating that Hungary had become a "
hybrid regime of
electoral autocracy Electoral autocracy is a hybrid regime, in which democratic institutions are imitative and adhere to authoritarian methods. In these regimes, regular elections are held, but they fail to reach democratic standards of freedom and fairness.
Electora ...
" following a "breakdown in democracy, fundamental rights and the rule of law" under Orbán's government.
Hungary was impacted by the
COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the Hungarian parliament passed a law granting the government the power to rule by decree, suspending
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
s and outlawing certain forms of medical
disinformation. Parliament rescinded this law on 16 June 2020 because of the improving epidemiological situation in Hungary.
Geography
Hungary is a
landlocked country. Its geography has traditionally been defined by its two main waterways, the
Danube and
Tisza rivers. The common tripartite division—''Dunántúl'' ("beyond the Danube",
Transdanubia), ''
Tiszántúl
Tiszántúl or Transtisza (literal meaning: "beyond Tisza") is a geographical region of which lies between the Tisza river, Hungary and the Apuseni Mountains, Romania, bordered by the Maros (Mureș) river. Alongside Kiskunság, it is a part of Gr ...
'' ("beyond the Tisza"), and ''Duna-Tisza kőze'' ("between the Danube and Tisza")—is a reflection of this. The Danube flows north–south through the centre of contemporary Hungary, and the entire country lies within its
drainage basin.
Transdanubia, which stretches westward from the centre of the country towards Austria, is a primarily hilly region with a terrain varied by low mountains. These include the very eastern stretch of the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
, ''
Alpokalja
Alpokalja (English "feet of the Alps") is a geographic region in western Hungary. Its highest point is Írott-kő at 882 metres above sea level. Although there are several lower mountains, the majority of the territory is hilly. Fir forests are c ...
'', in the west of the country, the
Transdanubian Mountains __NOTOC__
The Transdanubian Mountains (sometimes also referred to as ''Bakony Forest, Dunántúl Highlands, Highlands of Dunántúl, Highlands of Transdanubia, Mountains of Dunántúl, Mountains of Transdanubia, Transdanubian Central Range, Tra ...
in the central region of Transdanubia, and the
Mecsek
Mecsek (; hr, Meček; Serbian: ''Meček'' or Мечек; german: Metscheck) is a mountain range in southern Hungary. It is situated in the Baranya region, in the north of the city of Pécs.
Etymology
The Hungarian toponym "Mecsek" derives from ...
Mountains and
Villány Mountains in the south. The highest point of the area is the Írott-kő in the Alps, at . The
Little Hungarian Plain
The Little Hungarian Plain or Little Alföld ( Hungarian: ''Kisalföld'', Slovak: ''Malá dunajská kotlina'', German: ''Kleine Ungarische Tiefebene'') is a plain (tectonic basin) of approximately 8,000 km² in northwestern Hungary, south ...
(''Kisalfőld'') is found in northern Transdanubia.
Lake Balaton
Lake Balaton () is a freshwater lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the largest lake in Central Europe, and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. The Zala River provides the largest inflow of water to the lake, and th ...
and
Lake Hévíz
Lake Hévíz is located in Hévíz, Hungary, near the western end of Lake Balaton, from Keszthely.
It is the largest swimmable thermal lake in the world ( in area), second only to Frying Pan Lake in New Zealand, which is too hot for swimming ...
, the largest lake in Central Europe and the largest thermal lake in the world, respectively, are in Transdanubia as well.
The ''Duna-Tisza kőze'' and ''Tiszántúl'' are characterised mainly by the
Great Hungarian Plain
The Great Hungarian Plain (also known as Alföld or Great Alföld, hu, Alföld or ) is a plain occupying the majority of the modern territory of Hungary. It is the largest part of the wider Pannonian Plain. (However, the Great Hungarian plain ...
(''Alfőld''), which stretches across most of the eastern and southeastern areas of the country. To the north of the plain are the foothills of the
Carpathians
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
in a wide band near the
Slovakian border. The
Kékes
Kékes is
Hungary's highest mountain, at above sea level. It lies northeast of Gyöngyös, in the Mátra range of Heves county. It is Hungary's third most popular tourist attraction, after Lake Balaton and the Danube, and has a number of ho ...
at is the tallest mountain in Hungary and is found there.
Phytogeographically
Phytogeography (from Greek φυτόν, ''phytón'' = "plant" and γεωγραφία, ''geographía'' = "geography" meaning also distribution) or botanical geography is the branch of biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution o ...
, Hungary belongs to the Central European province of the
Circumboreal Region
The Circumboreal Region in phytogeography is a floristic region within the Holarctic Kingdom in Eurasia and North America, as delineated by such geobotanists as Josias Braun-Blanquet and Armen Takhtajan.
It is the largest floristic region ...
within the
Boreal Kingdom
The Boreal Kingdom or Holarctic Kingdom (Holarctis) is a floristic kingdom identified by botanist Ronald Good (and later by Armen Takhtajan), which includes the temperate to Arctic portions of North America and Eurasia. Its flora is inherited ...
. According to the
WWF, the territory of Hungary belongs to the terrestrial ecoregion of
Pannonian mixed forests.
It had a 2019
Forest Landscape Integrity Index
The Forest Landscape Integrity Index (FLII) is an annual global index of forest condition measured by degree of anthropogenic modification. Created by a team of 48 scientists, the FLII, in its measurement of 300m pixels of forest across the globe ...
mean score of 2.25/10, ranking it 156th globally out of 172 countries.
Hungary has 10 national parks, 145 minor nature reserves, and 35 landscape protection areas.
Climate
Hungary has a
temperate seasonal climate, with generally warm summers with low overall humidity levels but frequent rain showers and cold snowy winters. Average annual temperature is . Temperature extremes are on 20 July 2007 at
Kiskunhalas in the summer and on 16 February 1940 at
Miskolc in the winter. Average high temperature in the summer is and average low temperature in the winter is . The average yearly rainfall is approximately .
Hungary is ranked sixth in an environmental protection index by ''GW''/''
CAN''.
Government and politics
Hungary is a
unitary
Unitary may refer to:
Mathematics
* Unitary divisor
* Unitary element
* Unitary group
* Unitary matrix
* Unitary morphism
* Unitary operator
* Unitary transformation
* Unitary representation In mathematics, a unitary representation of a grou ...
,
parliamentary republic. The Hungarian political system operates under a framework reformed in 2012; this constitutional document is the
Fundamental Law of Hungary. Amendments generally require a two-thirds majority of parliament; the fundamental principles of the constitution (as expressed in the articles guaranteeing human dignity, the separation of powers, the state structure, and the
rule of law) are valid in perpetuity. 199 Members of Parliament (''országgyűlési képviselő'') are elected to the highest organ of state authority, the
unicameral ''Országgyűlés'' (
National Assembly), every four years in a single-round
first-past-the-post election with an
election threshold of 5%.
The
President of the Republic (''köztársasági elnök'') serves as the
head of state and is elected by the National Assembly every five years. The president is invested primarily with representative responsibilities and powers: receiving foreign heads of state, formally nominating the prime minister at the recommendation of the National Assembly, and serving as
commander-in-chief of the
armed forces
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
. Importantly, the president is also invested with
veto power and may send legislation to the 15-member
Constitutional Court
A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...
for review. The third most significant governmental position in Hungary is the
Speaker of the National Assembly, who is elected by the National Assembly and responsible for overseeing the daily sessions of the body.
The
prime minister (''miniszterelnök'') is elected by the National Assembly, serving as the
head of government and exercising
executive power. Traditionally, the prime minister is the leader of the largest party in parliament. The prime minister selects
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filin ...
ministers and has the exclusive right to dismiss them, although cabinet nominees must appear before consultative open hearings before one or more parliamentary committees, survive a vote in the National Assembly, and be formally approved by the president. The Cabinet reports to Parliament.
Following a decade of Fidesz–
Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) rule led by
Viktor Orbán
Viktor Mihály Orbán (; born 31 May 1963) is a Hungarian politician who has served as prime minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has presided over Fidesz since 1993, with a brief break between 2 ...
,
Freedom House's ''Nations in Transit 2020'' report reclassified 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 established tight control over the country's independent institutions...
thas steadily rewritten the Hungarian constitution, and eliminated democratic safeguards statutorily embodied in the Constitutional Court, Prosecutors Office, Media Authority, and State Audit Office...". It also limited parliamentary oversight, independent media, non-governmental organisations and academics, while consolidating power around the central government. Other democracy barometers have also rated Hungary as not a democracy, and there are a wide variety of labels for Hungary's political system found in scholarship.
According to data from the
V-Dem Institute, Hungary is one of the most rapidly
autocratising countries in the world as of 2021.
Political parties
Since the fall of communism, Hungary has a
multi-party system. The
last Hungarian parliamentary election took place on 3 April 2022. This parliamentary election was the 8th since the
1990 first multi-party election. The result was a victory for Fidesz–KDNP alliance, preserving its two-thirds majority with Orbán remaining prime minister. It was the third election according to the new Constitution of Hungary which went into force on 1 January 2012. The
new electoral law also entered into force that day. The voters elected 199 MPs instead of previous 386 lawmakers. The current political landscape in Hungary is dominated by the conservative Fidesz, who have a near supermajority, and two medium-sized parties, the left-wing
Democratic Coalition (DK) and liberal
Momentum.
After the fall of the Iron Curtain and the end of communist dictatorship in 1989, a democratic form of government was established. Today's parliament is still called ''Országgyűlés'' just like in royal times, but in order to differentiate between the historical royal diet is referred to as the "National Assembly" now. The
Diet of Hungary was a legislative institution in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary from the 1290s, and in its successor states, Royal Hungary and the Habsburg kingdom of Hungary throughout the
early modern period. The articles of the 1790 diet set out that the diet should meet at least once every 3 years, but since the diet was called by the
Habsburg monarchy, this promise was not kept on several occasions thereafter. As a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, it was reconstituted in 1867. The Latin term ''Natio Hungarica'' ("Hungarian nation") was used to designate the political elite which had participation in the diet, consisting of the
nobility, the Catholic clergy, and a few enfranchised burghers, regardless of language or ethnicity.
Law and judicial system
The judicial system of Hungary is a
civil law system divided between courts with regular civil and criminal jurisdiction and administrative courts with jurisdiction over litigation between individuals and the public administration. Hungarian law is codified and based on
German law and in a wider sense, civil law or
Roman law. The court system for civil and criminal jurisdiction consists of local courts (''járásbíróság''), regional appellate courts (''ítélőtábla''), and the supreme court (''
Kúria''). Hungary's highest courts are located in Budapest.
Law enforcement in Hungary is split among the police and the National Tax and Customs Administration. The
Hungarian Police is the main and largest state law enforcement agency in Hungary. It carries nearly all general police duties such as criminal investigation, patrol activity, traffic policing, border control. It is led by the national police commissioner under the control of the
Minister of the Interior
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
. The body is divided into county police departments which are also divided into regional and town police departments. The National Police has subordinate agencies with nationwide jurisdiction, such as the "Nemzeti Nyomozó Iroda" (National Bureau of Investigation), a civilian police force specialised in investigating serious crimes, and the
gendarmerie-like, militarised "Készenléti rendőrség" (Stand-by Police) mainly dealing with riots and often reinforcing local police forces. Because of Hungary's accession to the
Schengen Treaty
The Schengen Agreement ( , ) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the te ...
, the police and border guards were merged into a single national corps, with the border guards (''Határőrség Magyarországon'') becoming police officers. This merger took place in January 2008. The Customs and Excise Authority remained subject to the
Ministry of Finance under the National Tax and Customs Administration.
Foreign relations
The
foreign policy is based on four basic commitments: to
Atlantic co-operation, to
European integration
European integration is the process of industrial, economic, political, legal, social, and cultural integration of states wholly or partially in Europe or nearby. European integration has primarily come about through the European Union and it ...
, to
international development
International development or global development is a broad concept denoting the idea that societies and countries have differing levels of economic or human development on an international scale. It is the basis for international classifications ...
and to
international law
International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...
. Hungary has been a member of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...
since December 1955 and a member of the
European Union,
NATO, the
OECD, the
Visegrád Group, the
WTO, the
World Bank, the
AIIB and the
IMF. Hungary took on the presidency of the
Council of the European Union
The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...
for half a year in 2011 and the next will be in 2024. In 2015, Hungary was the fifth largest OECD non-DAC donor of
development aid in the world, which represents
0.13% of its Gross National Income.
Budapest is home to more than 100 embassies and representative bodies as an international political actor. Hungary hosts the main and regional headquarters of many international organisations as well, including
European Institute of Innovation and Technology,
European Police College
CEPOL, or the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training, is an agency of the European Union dedicated to training law enforcement officials. The institution was founded in 2000 and adopted its current legal mandate on 1 July 2016. It i ...
,
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...
,
International Centre for Democratic Transition
The International Centre for Democratic Transition (ICDT) is a non-profit organization founded in 2005 based in Budapest, Hungary which collects the experiences of recent democratic transitions and shares them with those who are determined to f ...
,
Institute of International Education
The Institute of International Education (IIE) is a 501(c) organization which focuses on international student exchange and aid, foreign affairs, and international peace and security. IIE creates programs of study and training for students, educa ...
,
International Labour Organization
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...
,
International Organization for Migration
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is a United Nations agency that provides services and advice concerning migration to governments and migrants, including internally displaced persons, refugees, and migrant workers.
The IOM wa ...
,
International Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
, Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe,
Danube Commission
The Danube Commission (, , ) is concerned with the maintenance and improvement of navigation conditions of the Danube River, from its source in Germany to its outlets in Romania and Ukraine, leading to the Black Sea. It was established in 1948 b ...
and others.
Since 1989, the top foreign policy goal has been achieving integration into Western economic and security organisations. Hungary joined the
Partnership for Peace programme in 1994 and has actively supported the
IFOR and
SFOR
The Stabilisation Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR) was a NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina after the Bosnian war. Although SFOR was led by NATO, several non-NATO countries contributed troops. It ...
missions in Bosnia. Since 1989 Hungary has improved its often frosty neighbour relations by signing basic treaties with Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine. These renounce all outstanding territorial claims and lay the foundation for constructive relations. However, the issue of
ethnic Hungarian minority rights in Romania, Slovakia, and Serbia periodically cause bilateral tensions to flare up, although relations with Serbia have more recently become extremely close due to strong Hungarian advocacy for Serbian EU membership. Since 2017, the
relations with Ukraine rapidly deteriorated over the issue of the
Hungarian minority in Ukraine. Since 1989, Hungary has signed all of the
OSCE documents, and served as the OSCE's Chairman-in-Office in 1997. Historically, Hungary has had particularly friendly
relations with Poland; this special relationship was recognised by the parliaments of both countries in 2007 with the joint declaration of 23 March as "The Day of Polish-Hungarian Friendship".
Military
The president holds the title of commander-in-chief of the nation's armed forces. The
Ministry of Defence jointly with
chief of staff
The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...
administers the armed forces, including the
Hungarian Ground Force (HDF) and the
Hungarian Air Force
The Hungarian Air Force ( hu, Magyar Légierő), is the air force branch of the Hungarian Defence Forces.
The task of the current Hungarian Air Force is primarily defensive purposes. The flying units of the air force are organised into a singl ...
. Since 2007, the Hungarian Armed Forces has been under a unified command structure. The Ministry of Defence maintains political and civil control over the army. A subordinate Joint Forces Command coordinates and commands the HDF. In 2016, the armed forces had 31,080 personnel on active duty, the operative reserve brought the total number of troops to fifty thousand. In 2016, it was planned that military spending the following year would be $1.21 billion, about 0.94% of the country's GDP, well below the NATO target of 2%. In 2012, the government adopted a resolution in which it pledged to increase defence spending to 1.4% of GDP by 2022.
Military service is voluntary, though
conscription
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
may occur in wartime. In a significant move for modernisation, Hungary decided in 2001 to buy 14
JAS 39 Gripen
The Saab JAS 39 Gripen (; English: ''griffin'') is a light fighter, light single-engine multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace and defense company Saab AB. The Gripen has a delta wing and Ca ...
fighter aircraft for about 800 million EUR. Hungarian National Cyber Security Center was re-organised in 2016 in order to become more efficient through
cyber security
Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, th ...
. In 2016, the Hungarian military had about 700 troops stationed in foreign countries as part of international peacekeeping forces, including 100 HDF troops in the NATO-led
ISAF force in Afghanistan, 210 Hungarian soldiers in Kosovo under command of
KFOR KFOR may refer to:
* KFOR (AM), a radio station (1240 AM) licensed to Lincoln, Nebraska, United States
* KFOR-TV, a television station (channel 4 analog/27 digital) licensed to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States
* KFOR-TV (Nebraska), a defun ...
, and 160 troops in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Hungary sent a 300-strong logistics unit to Iraq in order to help the U.S. occupation with armed transport convoys, though public opinion opposed the country's participation in the war.
Administrative divisions
Hungary is divided into 19
counties (''megye''). The
capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...
(''főváros'')
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...
is an independent entity. The counties and the capital are the 20
NUTS third-level units of Hungary. The states are further subdivided into 174
districts
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
(''járás''). The districts are further divided into
towns and villages, of which 25 are designated
towns with county rights (''megyei jogú város''), sometimes known as "urban counties" in English. The local authorities of these towns have extended powers, but these towns belong to the territory of the respective district instead of being independent territorial units. County and district councils and municipalities have different roles and separate responsibilities relating to local government. The role of the counties are basically administrative and focus on strategic development, while preschools, public water utilities, garbage disposal, elderly care, and rescue services are administered by the municipalities.
Since 1996, the counties and city of Budapest have been grouped into
seven regions for statistical and development purposes. These seven regions constitute NUTS' second-level units of Hungary. They are
Central Hungary
Central Hungary ( hu, Közép-Magyarország) is one of the seven statistical regions in Hungary ( NUTS 1 and NUTS 2). It includes (the capital of the region) and .
Administration
Central Hungary's subregions (population figures from the ...
,
Central Transdanubia
Central Transdanubia ( hu, Közép-Dunántúl) is a statistical ( NUTS 2) region of Hungary. The capital is Székesfehérvár. It is part of Transdanubia (NUTS 1) region. Central Transdanubia includes counties of Fejér, Komárom-Esztergom, and V ...
,
Northern Great Plain,
Northern Hungary
Northern Hungary ( hu, Észak-Magyarország) is a region in Hungary. As a statistical region it includes the counties Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Heves and Nógrád, but in colloquial speech it usually also refers to Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county. ...
,
Southern Transdanubia
Southern Transdanubia ( hu, Dél-Dunántúl) is a statistical ( NUTS 2) region of Hungary. It is part of the Transdanubia (NUTS 1) region. Southern Transdanubia includes the counties of Somogy, Tolna, and Baranya. Its capital is the city of Pécs ...
,
Southern Great Plain
The Southern Great Plain ( hu, Dél-Alföld) is a statistical ( NUTS 2) region of Hungary. It is part of Great Plain and North (NUTS 1) region. The Southern Great Plain includes three counties:
* Bács-Kiskun
* Békés
* Csongrád-Csanád
See ...
, and
Western Transdanubia.
Cities and towns
Hungary has 3,152
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
as of 15 July 2013: 346 towns (Hungarian term: ''város'', plural: ''városok''; the terminology doesn't distinguish between
cities
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be de ...
and
towns – the term town is used in official translations) and 2,806 villages (Hungarian: ''község'', plural: ''községek'') which fully cover the territory of the country. The number of towns can change, since villages can be elevated to town status by act of the president. Budapest has a special status and is not included in any county while 23 of the towns are so-called urban counties (''megyei jogú város'' – town with county rights). All county seats except Budapest are urban counties. Four of the cities (Budapest, Miskolc,
Győr, and
Pécs) have agglomerations, and the Hungarian Statistical Office distinguishes seventeen other areas in earlier stages of agglomeration development.
The largest city is Budapest, while the smallest town is
Pálháza with 1,038 inhabitants in 2010. The largest village is
Solymár with a population of 10,123 as of 2010. There are more than 100 villages with fewer than 100 inhabitants while the smallest villages have fewer than 20 inhabitants.
Economy
Hungary is an OECD
high-income
A high-income economy is defined by the World Bank as a nation with a gross national income per capita of US$12,696 or more in 2020, calculated using the Atlas method. While the term "high-income" is often used interchangeably with "First World" ...
mixed economy with
very high human development index and skilled labour force with the
16th lowest income inequality in the world. Furthermore, it is the
9th most complex economy according to the Economic Complexity Index. The economy is the
57th-largest in the world (out of 188 countries measured by
IMF) with $265.037 billion output
and ranks
49th in the world in terms of GDP per capita measured by
purchasing power parity. Hungary is an export-oriented
market economy with a heavy emphasis on foreign trade, thus the country is the
36th largest export economy in the world. The country has more than $100 billion export in 2015 with high, $9.003 billion
trade surplus, of which 79% went to the EU and 21% was extra-EU trade. Hungary has a more than 80%
privately owned
A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...
economy with
39.1% overall taxation, which provides the basis for the country's
welfare economy. On the expenditure side, household consumption is the main component of
GDP
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...
and accounts for 50% of its total use, followed by gross fixed
capital formation
Capital formation is a concept used in macroeconomics, national accounts and financial economics. Occasionally it is also used in corporate accounts. It can be defined in three ways:
*It is a specific statistical concept, also known as net invest ...
with 22% and government expenditure with 20%.
Hungary continues to be one of the leading nations for attracting
foreign direct investment (FDI) in
Central and Eastern Europe
Central and Eastern Europe is a term encompassing the countries in the Baltics, Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe (mostly the Balkans), usually meaning former communist states from the Eastern Bloc and Warsaw Pact in Europe ...
, the inward FDI in the country was $119.8 billion in 2015, while investing more than $50 billion abroad. , the key trading partners were Germany, Austria, Romania, Slovakia, France, Italy, Poland and Czech Republic. Major industries include food processing, pharmaceuticals, motor vehicles, information technology, chemicals, metallurgy, machinery, electrical goods, and tourism (with 12.1 million international tourists in 2014). Hungary is the largest electronics producer in Central and Eastern Europe. Electronics manufacturing and research are among the main drivers of innovation and economic growth in the country. In the past 20 years Hungary has also grown into a major centre for
mobile technology,
information security
Information security, sometimes shortened to InfoSec, is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. It is part of information risk management. It typically involves preventing or reducing the probability of unauthoriz ...
, and related hardware research. The
employment rate was 68.3% in 2017; the employment structure shows the characteristics of
post-industrial economies, 63.2% of employed workforce work in service sector, the industry contributed by 29.7%, while agriculture with 7.1%. Unemployment rate was 4.1% in 2017, down from 11% during the
financial crisis of 2007–2008
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...
. Hungary is part of the
European single market which represents more than 508 million consumers. Several domestic commercial policies are determined by agreements among European Union members and by EU legislation.
Large
Hungarian companies are included in the
BUX, the stock market index listed on
Budapest Stock Exchange. Well-known companies include the
Fortune Global 500 firm
MOL Group
MOL Plc. ( hu, Magyar OLaj- és Gázipari Részvénytársaság, lit=Hungarian Oil and Gas Public Limited Company), also commonly known as MOL Group, is a Hungarian multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. Members of ...
, the
OTP Bank,
Gedeon Richter Plc.,
Magyar Telekom,
CIG Pannonia,
FHB Bank,
Zwack Unicum and more. Besides this Hungary has a large portion of specialised
small and medium enterprise
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Ba ...
, for example a significant number of automotive suppliers and technology
start ups among others.
Budapest is the financial and business capital, classified as an Alpha
world city in the study by the
Globalization and World Cities Research Network
The Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) is a think tank that studies the relationships between world cities in the context of globalization. It is based in the geography department of Loughborough University in Leicestershir ...
. On the national level, Budapest is the
primate city of Hungary regarding business and economy, accounting for 39% of the national income, the city has a
gross metropolitan product more than $100 billion in 2015, making it one of the largest regional economies in the European Union. Budapest is also among the Top 100 GDP performing cities in the world, measured by
PricewaterhouseCoopers. Furthermore, Hungary's corporate tax rate is only 9%, which is relatively low for EU states.
Hungary maintains its own currency, the
Hungarian forint (HUF), although the economy fulfills the
Maastricht criteria with the exception of public debt,
but it is also significantly below the EU average with the level of 75.3% in 2015. The
Hungarian National Bank
The Hungarian National Bank ( hu, Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB)) is the central bank of Hungary and as such part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). The Hungarian National Bank was established in 1924 and succeeded the Royal Hungarian S ...
—founded in 1924, after the dissolution of Austro-Hungarian Empire—is currently focusing on price stability with an inflation target of 3%.
Science and technology
Hungary's achievements in science and technology have been significant, and research and development efforts form an integral part of the country's economy. Hungary spent 1.61% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on civil research and development in 2020, which is the
25th highest ratio in the world.
Hungary ranks 32nd among the most innovative countries in the
Bloomberg Innovation Index
Bloomberg L.P. is a privately held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981, with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan, Charles Zegar, and a ...
. Hungary was ranked 34th in the
Global Innovation Index
The Global Innovation Index is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation, published by the World Intellectual Property Organization. It was started in 2007 by INSEAD and ''World Business'', a British m ...
in 2021, down from 33rd in 2019. In 2014, Hungary counted 2,651 full-time equivalent researchers per million inhabitants, steadily increasing from 2,131 in 2010 and compares with 3,984 in the U.S. or 4,380 in Germany. Hungary's high technology industry has benefited from both the country's skilled workforce and the strong presence of foreign high-tech firms and research centres. Hungary also has one of the highest rates of filed patents, the sixth highest ratio of high-tech and medium high-tech output in the total industrial output, the 12th highest research FDI inflow, placed 14th in research talent in business enterprise and has the 17th best overall innovation efficiency ratio in the world.
The key actor of research and development in Hungary is the National Research, Development and Innovation (NRDI) Office, which is a national strategic and
funding agency for scientific research, development and innovation, the primary source of advice on RDI policy for the Hungarian government and the primary RDI funding agency. Its role is to develop RDI policy and ensure that Hungary adequately invest in RDI by funding excellent research and supporting innovation to increase competitiveness and to prepare the RDI strategy of the government, to handle the NRDI Fund and represents the government and RDI community in international organisations.
Scientific research is supported partly by industry and partly by the state, through universities and by scientific state-institutions such as
Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Hungary has been the home of some of the most prominent researchers in various scientific disciplines, notably physics, mathematics, chemistry and engineering. As of 2018,
twelve Hungarian scientists have been recipients of a
Nobel Prize. Until 2012 three individuals—Csoma,
János Bolyai and Tihanyi—were included in the UNESCO
Memory of the World
Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...
register as well as the collective contributions
Tabula Hungariae
Tabula Hungariae (also ''Lázár's map'') is the earliest surviving printed map of Kingdom of Hungary, Hungary, which has supposedly been made by Hungarian Lázár deák before 1528. It was inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2007 ...
and
Bibliotheca Corviniana
Bibliotheca Corviniana was one of the most renowned libraries of the Renaissance world, established by Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, in Buda Castle between 1458 and 1490. The books were transferred to Istanbul after the Hungarian defeat by th ...
. Contemporary scientists include mathematician
László Lovász, physicist
Albert-László Barabási
Albert-László Barabási (born March 30, 1967) is a Romanian-born Hungarian-American physicist, best known for his discoveries in network science and network medicine.
He is Distinguished University Professor and Robert Gray Professor of Netw ...
, physicist
Ferenc Krausz
Ferenc Krausz (born 17 May 1962 in Mór, Hungary) is a Hungarian- Austrian physicist, whose research team has generated and measured the first attosecond light pulse and used it for capturing electrons’ motion inside atoms, marking the birt ...
, and biochemist
Árpád Pusztai
Árpád János Pusztai (8 September 1930 – 17 December 2021) was a Hungarian-born British biochemist and nutritionist who spent 36 years at the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland. He was a world expert on plant lectins, authoring ...
. Hungary has excellent
mathematics education which has trained numerous outstanding scientists. Famous Hungarian mathematicians include father
Farkas Bolyai
Farkas Bolyai (; 9 February 1775 – 20 November 1856; also known as Wolfgang Bolyai in Germany) was a Hungarian mathematician, mainly known for his work in geometry.
Biography
Bolyai was born in Bolya, a village near Hermannstadt, Grand P ...
and son
János Bolyai, who was one of the founders of
non-Euclidean geometry;
Paul Erdős, famed for publishing in over forty languages and whose
Erdős numbers are still tracked, and
John von Neumann, a key contributor in the fields of
quantum mechanics and
game theory
Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions among rational agents. Myerson, Roger B. (1991). ''Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict,'' Harvard University Press, p.&nbs1 Chapter-preview links, ppvii–xi It has applic ...
, a pioneer of digital computing, and the chief mathematician in the
Manhattan Project. Notable Hungarian inventions include the
lead dioxide match (
János Irinyi), a type of
carburetor (
Donát Bánki
Donát Bánki (born as Donát Lőwinger, 6 June 1859 – 1 August 1922)
"The Contribution of Hungarians to Universal Culture" (with inventors),
Embassy of the Republic of Hungary in Damascus, Syria, 2006, webpage:
HungEmb-Culture.
wa ...
,
János Csonka), the electric (AC) train engine and generator (
Kálmán Kandó),
holography
Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other Holography#Applications, applic ...
(
Dennis Gabor), the
Kalman filter (
Rudolf E. Kálmán), and
Rubik's Cube (
Ernő Rubik).
Transport
Hungary has a highly developed road, railway, air, and water transport system. Budapest serves as an important hub for the
Hungarian railway system (''MÁV''). The capital is served by three large train stations called ''
Keleti'' (Eastern), ''
Nyugati'' (Western), and ''
Déli'' (Southern) ''pályaudvar''s (terminuses).
Szolnok is the most important railway hub outside Budapest, while
Tiszai Railway Station in Miskolc and the main stations of
Szombathely
Szombathely (; german: Steinamanger, ; see also other alternative names) is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas county in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria. Szombathely lies by t ...
,
Győr,
Szeged
Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...
, and
Székesfehérvár are also key to the network.
Budapest,
Debrecen, Miskolc, and
Szeged
Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...
have tram networks. The
Budapest Metro
The Budapest Metro ( hu, Budapesti metró) is the rapid transit system in the Hungarian capital Budapest. It is the world's oldest electrified underground railway system, and the second oldest underground railway system with multiple stations, ...
is the second-oldest underground
metro system in the world; its
Line 1 dates from 1896. The system consists of four lines. A
commuter rail system, ''
HÉV'', operates in the Budapest metropolitan area.
Hungary has a total length of approximately motorways ( hu, autópálya). Motorway sections are being added to the existing network, which already connects many major economically important cities to the capital. Ports are located at Budapest,
Dunaújváros and
Baja.
There are five international airports:
Budapest Ferenc Liszt (informally called "Ferihegy"),
Debrecen,
Hévíz–Balaton (also called Sármellék Airport),
Győr-Pér, and
Pécs-Pogány, but only two of these (Budapest and Debrecen) receive scheduled flights. Low-budget airline
Wizz Air
Wizz Air, legally incorporated as Wizz Air Hungary Ltd. ( hu, Wizz Air Hungary Légiközlekedési Zrt.) is a Hungarian ultra-low-cost carrier with its head office in Budapest, Hungary. The airline serves many cities across Europe, as well as ...
is based at Ferihegy.
Energy
Hungary's total energy supply is dominated by
fossil fuels, with
natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon di ...
occupying the largest share, followed by
oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
and
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dead ...
.
In June 2020, Hungary passed a law binding itself to a target of
net-zero emissions by 2050. As part of a broader restructuring of the nation's energy and climate policies, Hungary also extended its National Energy Strategy 2030 to look even further, adding an outlook until 2040 that prioritizes carbon-neutral and cost-effective energy while focusing on reinforcing
energy security and
energy independence.
Key forces in the country's 2050 target include
renewables
Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
,
nuclear
Nuclear may refer to:
Physics
Relating to the nucleus of the atom:
*Nuclear engineering
*Nuclear physics
*Nuclear power
*Nuclear reactor
*Nuclear weapon
*Nuclear medicine
*Radiation therapy
*Nuclear warfare
Mathematics
*Nuclear space
*Nuclear ...
electricity, and
electrification of end-use sectors. Significant investments in the power sector are expected, including for the construction of two new nuclear energy generating units. Renewable energy capacity has increased significantly, but in recent years growth in the renewables sector has stagnated. What is more, certain policies that limit development of
wind power are expected to negatively impact the renewables sector.
Hungary's emission of greenhouse gases has dropped alongside the economy's decreasing use of carbon-based fuels. However, independent analysis has identified space for Hungary to set more ambitious emissions reduction targets.
Demographics
Hungary's population was 9,937,628 according to the 2011 census, making it the fifth most populous country in Central and Eastern Europe and
medium-sized member state of the European Union.
Population density stands at 107 inhabitants per square kilometre, which is about two times higher than the
world average. More than one quarter of the population lived in the
Budapest metropolitan area
The Budapest metropolitan area ( hu, budapesti agglomeráció) is a statistical area that describes the reach of commuter movement to and from Budapest and its surrounding suburbs. Created by Hungary's national statistical office HCSO to describe ...
, 6,903,858 people (69.5%) in cities and towns overall.
Like most other European countries, Hungary is experiencing
sub-replacement fertility
Sub-replacement fertility is a total fertility rate (TFR) that (if sustained) leads to each new generation being less populous than the older, previous one in a given area. The United Nations Population Division defines sub-replacement fertili ...
; its estimated
total fertility rate of 1.43 children per woman is well below the replacement rate of 2.1, albeit higher than its nadir of 1.28 in 1999, and remains considerably below the high of 5.59 children born per woman in 1884. As a result, its population has been gradually declining and rapidly aging. In 2011, the conservative government began a programme to increase the birth rate with a focus on ethnic Magyars by reinstating 3 year maternity leave as well as boosting part-time jobs. The fertility rate has gradually increased from 1.27 children born per woman in 2011. The natural decrease in the first 10 months of 2016 was only 25,828 which was 8,162 less than the corresponding period in 2015. In 2015, 47.9% of births were to unmarried women. Hungary has one of the oldest populations in the world, with the average age of 42.7 years.
Life expectancy
Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, current age, and other demographic factors like sex. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth ...
was 71.96 years for men and 79.62 years for women in 2015, growing continuously since the fall of Communism.
Hungary recognises two sizeable minority groups, designated as "national minorities" because their ancestors have lived in their respective regions for centuries in Hungary: a
German community of about 130,000 that lives throughout the country, and a
Romani minority that numbers around 300,000 and mainly resides in the northern part of the country. Some studies indicate a considerably larger number of Romani in Hungary (876,000 people – c. 9% of the population.). According to the 2011 census, there were 8,314,029 (83.7%) ethnic
Hungarians, 308,957 (3.1%)
Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnicities
* Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia
** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule
* Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
, 131,951 (1.3%)
Germans, 29,647 (0.3%)
Slovaks
The Slovaks ( sk, Slováci, singular: ''Slovák'', feminine: ''Slovenka'', plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history and speak Slovak.
In Slovakia, 4.4 mi ...
, 26,345 (0.3%)
Romanians, and 23,561 (0.2%)
Croats
The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, ...
in Hungary; 1,455,883 people (14.7% of the total population) did not declare their ethnicity. Thus, Hungarians made up more than 90% of people who declared their ethnicity.
In Hungary, people can declare more than one ethnicity, so the sum of ethnicities is higher than the total population.
Today, approximately
5 million Hungarians live outside Hungary.
Languages
Hungarian is the
official and predominant spoken language. Hungarian is the
13th most widely spoken first language in Europe with around 13 million native speakers and it is one of 24 official and working languages of the European Union. Outside Hungary, it is also spoken in neighbouring countries and by Hungarian diaspora communities worldwide. According to the 2011 census, 9,896,333 people (99.6%) speak Hungarian in Hungary, of whom 9,827,875 people (99%) speak it as a
first language, while 68,458 people (0.7%) speak it as a
second language.
English (1,589,180 speakers, 16.0%), and German (1,111,997 speakers, 11.2%) are the most widely spoken foreign languages, while there are several recognised minority languages in Hungary (
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
,
Bulgarian,
Croatian,
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
,
Greek,
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
** Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
**Romanian cuisine, traditiona ...
,
Romani
Romani may refer to:
Ethnicities
* Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia
** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule
* Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...
,
Rusyn
Rusyn may refer to:
* Rusyn people, an East Slavic people
** Pannonian Rusyn people, a branch of Rusyn people
** Lemkos, a branch of Rusyn (or Ukrainian) people
** Boykos, a branch of Rusyn (or Ukrainian) people
* Rusyn language, an East Slavic l ...
,
Serbian
Serbian may refer to:
* someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe
* someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people
* Serbian language
* Serbian names
See also
*
*
* Old Serbian (disambiguation ...
,
Slovak,
Slovenian
Slovene or Slovenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe
* Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia
* Slovenes, an ethno-linguistic group mainly living in Slovenia
* Sl ...
, and
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
).
Hungarian is a member of the
Uralic language family
The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian (w ...
, unrelated to any neighbouring language and distantly related to
Finnish and
Estonian
Estonian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe
* Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent
* Estonian language
* Estonian cuisine
* Estonian culture
See also
*
...
. It is the largest of the Uralic languages in terms of the number of speakers and the only one spoken in Central Europe. There are sizeable populations of Hungarian speakers in Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the former Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Israel, and the U.S. Smaller groups of Hungarian speakers live in Canada, Slovenia, and Austria, but also in Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, and Chile. Standard Hungarian is based on the variety spoken Budapest. Although the use of the standard dialect is enforced, Hungarian has several urban and rural
dialects.
Religion
Hungary is a historically
Christian country. Hungarian historiography identifies the foundation of the Hungarian state with Stephen I's
baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
and coronation with the
Holy Crown in A.D. 1000. Stephen promulgated
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
as the state religion, and his successors were traditionally known as the
Apostolic Kings. The
Catholic Church in Hungary
The Catholic Church in Hungary or Hungarian Catholic Church ( hu, Magyar Katolikus Egyház) is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
According to a 2019 survey by Eurobarometer, 62% of Hunga ...
remained strong through the centuries, and the
Archbishop of Esztergom
In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...
was granted extraordinary temporal privileges as
prince-primate (''hercegprímás'') of Hungary.
Although contemporary Hungary has no
official religion
A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular, is not necessarily a t ...
and recognises
freedom of religion as a fundamental right, the constitution "recognises Christianity's nation-building role" in its preamble and in Article VII affirms that "the state may cooperate with the churches for community goals." The 2011 census showed that the majority of Hungarians were Christians (54.2%), with
Roman Catholics (''római katolikusok'') (37.1%) and
Hungarian Reformed
The Reformed Church in Hungary ( hu, Magyarországi Református Egyház, MRE) is the largest Protestant church in Hungary, with parishes among the Hungarian diaspora abroad. Today, it is made up of 1,249 congregations in 27 presbyteries and four ...
Calvinists
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calv ...
(''reformátusok'') (11.1%) making up the bulk of these alongside
Lutherans (''evangélikusok'') (2.2%),
Greek Catholics The term Greek Catholic Church can refer to a number of Eastern Catholic Churches following the Byzantine (Greek) liturgy, considered collectively or individually.
The terms Greek Catholic, Greek Catholic church or Byzantine Catholic, Byzantine Ca ...
(1.8%), and other Christians (1.3%). Jewish (0.1%), Buddhist (0.1%) and Muslim (0.06%) communities are in the minority. 27.2% of the population did not declare a religious affiliation while 16.7% declared themselves explicitly irreligious, another 1.5% atheist.
During the initial stages of the Protestant
Reformation, most Hungarians adopted first Lutheranism and then Calvinism in the form of the Hungarian Reformed Church. In the second half of the 16th century, the
Jesuits led a
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) ...
campaign, and the population once again became predominantly Catholic. This campaign was only partially successful, however, and the (mainly Reformed) Hungarian nobility were able to secure freedom of worship for Protestants. In practice, this meant ''
cuius regio, eius religio
() is a Latin phrase which literally means "whose realm, their religion" – meaning that the religion of the ruler was to dictate the religion of those ruled. This legal principle marked a major development in the collective (if not individual ...
''; thus, most individual localities in Hungary are still identifiable as historically Catholic, Lutheran, or Reformed. The country's eastern regions, especially around Debrecen (the "Calvinist Rome"), remain almost completely Reformed, a trait they share with historically contiguous ethnically Hungarian regions across the Romanian border.
Orthodox Christianity in Hungary is associated with the country's ethnic minorities: Armenians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Romanians, Rusyns, Ukrainians, and Serbs.
Historically, Hungary was home to a
significant Jewish community with a pre-World War II population of more than 800,000, but it is estimated that just over 564,000 Hungarian Jews were killed between 1941 and 1945 during the Holocaust in Hungary. Between 15 May and 9 July 1944 alone, over 434,000 Jews were deported on 147 trains, most of them to Auschwitz, where about 80% were gassed on arrival. Some Jews were able to escape, but most were either deported to concentration camps, where they were killed by
Arrow Cross
A cross whose arms end in arrowheads is called a "cross barby" or "cross barbée" in the traditional terminology of heraldry. In Christian use, the ends of this cross resemble the barbs of fish hooks, or fish spears. This alludes to the Icht ...
members. From over 800,000 Jews living within Hungary's borders in 1941–1944, about 255,500 are thought to have survived. There are about 120,000 Jews in Hungary today.
Education
Education is predominantly public, run by the
Ministry of Education
An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
.
Preschool-
kindergarten education is
compulsory
Compulsion may refer to:
* Compulsive behavior, a psychological condition in which a person does a behavior compulsively, having an overwhelming feeling that they must do so.
* Obsessive–compulsive disorder, a mental disorder characterized by i ...
and provided for all children between three and six years old, after which school attendance is also compulsory until the age of sixteen.
Primary education
Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first ...
usually lasts for eight years.
Secondary education includes three traditional types of schools focused on different academic levels: the
Gymnasium enrolls the most gifted children and prepares students for university studies; the secondary vocational schools for intermediate students lasts four years and the technical school prepares pupils for
vocational education and the world of work. The system is partly flexible and bridges exist, graduates from a vocational school can achieve a two years programme to have access to vocational higher education for instance. The
Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study rated 13–14-year-old pupils in Hungary among the best in the world for maths and science.
Most of the universities are
public institutions
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichke ...
, and students traditionally study without fee payment. The general requirement for university is the
Matura. The Hungarian public
higher education system includes universities and other higher education institutes, that provide both education curricula and related degrees up to doctoral degree and also contribute to research activities. Health insurance for students is free until the end of their studies. English and German language are important in Hungarian higher education, there are a number of degree programmes that are taught in these languages, which attracts thousands of
exchange students every year. Hungary's higher education and training has been ranked 44 out of 148 countries in the Global Competitiveness Report 2014.
Hungary has a long tradition of higher education reflecting the existence of established
knowledge economy. The established universities include some of the
oldest in the world, the first was the
University of Pécs founded in 1367 which is still functioning, although in 1276, the university of
Veszprém was destroyed by the troops of
Peter Csák but it was never rebuilt.
Sigismund Sigismund (variants: Sigmund, Siegmund) is a German proper name, meaning "protection through victory", from Old High German ''sigu'' "victory" + ''munt'' "hand, protection". Tacitus latinises it '' Segimundus''. There appears to be an older form of ...
established
Óbuda University
The Óbuda University ( hu, Óbudai Egyetem, la, Universitas Budensis), named after Óbuda, a part of Budapest, is a technical university in Budapest, Hungary. It was founded in 2000 as ''Budapest Tech'' () with the merging of three polytech ...
in 1395. Another,
Universitas Istropolitana, was established 1465 in Pozsony by
Matthias Corvinus
Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several mi ...
.
Nagyszombat
Trnava (, german: Tyrnau; hu, Nagyszombat, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a ''kraj'' (Trnava Region) and of an '' okres'' ( Trn ...
University was founded in 1635 and moved to Buda in 1777, and it is called
Eötvös Loránd University today. The world's first
institute of technology
An institute of technology (also referred to as: technological university, technical university, university of technology, technological educational institute, technical college, polytechnic university or just polytechnic) is an institution of te ...
was founded in
Selmecbánya in 1735; its legal successor is the
University of Miskolc
The University of Miskolc (before 1990: ''Technical University of Heavy Industry'') is the largest university of Northern Hungary.
Location
Most of the buildings can be found in Egyetemváros ("University Town"), a part of the city of Miskolc. I ...
. The
Budapest University of Technology and Economics
The Budapest University of Technology and Economics ( hu, Budapesti Műszaki és Gazdaságtudományi Egyetem or in short ), official abbreviation BME, is the most significant university of technology in Hungary and is considered the world's oldes ...
is considered the oldest institute of technology in the world with university rank and structure, its legal predecessor the Institutum Geometrico-Hydrotechnicum was founded in 1782 by
Emperor Joseph II
Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 un ...
.
Hungary ranks fourth (above neighbour Romania, and after China, the United States and Russia) in the all-time medal count at the
International Mathematical Olympiad
The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) is a mathematical olympiad for pre- university students, and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. It has since been held annually, excep ...
with 336 total medals, dating back to 1959.
Health
Hungary maintains a
universal health care
Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized ar ...
system largely financed by government
national health insurance. According to the
OECD, 100% of the population is
covered by universal health insurance,
which is free for children, students, pensioners, people with low income, handicapped people, and church employees. Hungary spends 7.2% of GDP on healthcare, spending $2,045 per capita, of which $1,365 is provided by the government.
Hungary is one of the main destinations of
medical tourism
Medical tourism refers to people traveling abroad to obtain medical treatment. In the past, this usually referred to those who traveled from less-developed countries to major medical centers in highly developed countries for treatment unavailable a ...
in Europe, particularly for dentistry,
in which its share is 42% in Europe and 21% worldwide.
Plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes craniofa ...
is also a key sector, with 30% of the clients coming from abroad. Hungary is well known for its spa culture and is home to
numerous medicinal spas,
which attract "spa tourism".
In common with developed countries, cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of mortality, accounting for 49.4% (62,979) of all deaths in 2013.
However, this number peaked in 1985 with 79,355 deaths, and has been declining continuously since the fall of communism.
The second leading cause of death is cancer with 33,274 (26.2%), which has been stagnant since the 1990s.
Deaths from accidents dropped from 8,760 in 1990 to 3,654 in 2013; the number of suicides has declined precipitously from 4,911 in 1983 to 2,093 in 2013 (21.1 per 100,000 people), the lowest since 1956.
There are considerable health disparities between the western and eastern parts of Hungary; heart disease, hypertension, stroke, and suicide is prevalent in the mostly agricultural and low-income Great Plain region in the east, but infrequent in the high-income, middle class areas of Western Transdanubia and Central Hungary. Smoking is a leading cause of death in the country, although it is in steep decline: The proportion of adult smokers declined to 19% in 2013 from 28% in 2012, owing to strict regulations such as a nationwide smoking ban in every indoor public place and the limiting of tobacco sales to state-controlled "National Tobacco Shops".
Hungary ranks as the
17th safest country in the world, with a homicide rate of 1.3 per 100,000 people.
Culture
Architecture
Hungary is home to the
largest synagogue in Europe, built in 1859 in
Moorish Revival
Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th centu ...
style with a capacity of 3,000 people; the
largest medicinal bath in Europe, completed in 1913 in Modern
Renaissance style and located in the Budapest city park; one of the
largest basilicas in Europe; the
second-largest territorial abbey in the world; and the largest
early Christian necropolis outside Italy. Notable architectural styles include
Historicism
Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely ...
and
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
, or rather several variants of Art Nouveau. In contrast to Historicism, Hungarian Art Nouveau is based on national architectural characteristics. Taking the eastern origins of the Hungarians into account,
Ödön Lechner
Ödön Lechner (born Eugen Lechner, 27 August 1845 – 10 June 1914) was a Hungary, Hungarian architect, one of the prime representatives of the Hungarian Art Nouveau, Szecesszió style, which was related to Art Nouveau in the rest of Europe, i ...
, the most important figure in Hungarian Art Nouveau, was initially inspired by Indian and Syrian architecture and later by traditional Hungarian decorative designs. In this way, he created an original synthesis of architectural styles. By applying them to three-dimensional architectural elements, he produced a version of Art Nouveau that was specific to Hungary. Turning away from the style of Lechner, yet taking inspiration from his approach, the group of "Young People" (''Fiatalok''), which included
Károly Kós
Károly Kós (, born Károly Kosch; 16 December 1883 – 25 August 1977) was a Hungarian architect, writer, illustrator, ethnologist and politician of Austria-Hungary and Romania.
Biography
Born as Károly Kosch in Temesvár, Austria-Hung ...
and Dezsö Zrumeczky, used the characteristic structures and forms of traditional Hungarian architecture to achieve the same end.
Besides the two principal styles, Budapest also displays local versions of trends originating from other European countries. The Sezession from
Vienna, the German
Jugendstil
''Jugendstil'' ("Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German counterpart of ...
, Art Nouveau from Belgium and France, and the influence of English and Finnish architecture are all reflected in the buildings constructed at the turn of the 20th century.
Béla Lajta initially adopted Lechner's style, subsequently drawing his inspiration from English and Finnish trends; after developing an interest in the
Egyptian style, he finally arrived at modern architecture.
Aladár Árkay took almost the same route.
István Medgyaszay developed his own style, which differed from Lechner's, using stylised traditional motifs to create decorative designs in concrete. In the sphere of applied arts, those chiefly responsible for promoting the spread of Art Nouveau were the School and Museum of Decorative Arts, which opened in 1896.
Foreigners have unexpectedly "discovered" that a significantly large portion of the citizens lives in old and architecturally valuable buildings. In the Budapest downtown area almost all the buildings are about one hundred years old, with thick walls, high ceilings, and motifs on the front walls.
Music
Hungarian music consists mainly of traditional
Hungarian folk music
Hungarian folk music ( hu, magyar népzene) includes a broad array of Central European styles, including the recruitment dance verbunkos, the csárdás and nóta.
The name ''Népzene'' is also used for Hungarian folk music as an umbrella designat ...
and music by prominent composers such as
Franz Liszt and
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hun ...
, considered to be among the greatest Hungarian composers. Other renowned composers are
Ernst von Dohnányi
Ernst von Dohnányi (Hungarian: ''Dohnányi Ernő'', ; 27 July 1877 – 9 February 1960) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and conducting, conductor. He used a German form of his name on most published compositions.
Biography
Dohnányi was born ...
,
Franz Schmidt,
Zoltán Kodály,
Gabriel von Wayditch,
Rudolf Wagner-Régeny
Rudolf Wagner-Régeny (28 August 1903, Szászrégen, Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Reghin, Romania) – 18 September 1969, Berlin) was a composer, conductor, and pianist. Born in Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary, ...
,
László Lajtha
László Lajtha (; 30 June 1892 – 16 February 1963) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist and conductor.
Career
Born to Ida Wiesel, a Transsylvanian-Hungarian and Pál Lajtha, an owner of a leather factory. The father Pál had ambitio ...
,
Franz Lehár,
Kálmán Imre,
Sándor Veress
Sándor Veress (, – ) was a Swiss composer of Hungarian origin. He was born in Kolozsvár/Klausenburg, Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire, nowadays called Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and died in Bern. The first half of hi ...
and
Miklós Rózsa
Miklós Rózsa (; April 18, 1907 – July 27, 1995) was a Hungarian-American composer trained in Germany (1925–1931) and active in France (1931–1935), the United Kingdom (1935–1940), and the United States (1940–1995), with extensi ...
. Hungarian traditional music tends to have a strong
dactylic rhythm, as the language is invariably stressed on the first syllable of each word.
Hungary has renowned composers of contemporary classical music,
György Ligeti,
György Kurtág,
Péter Eötvös
Péter Eötvös ( hu, Eötvös Péter, ; born 2 January 1944) is a Hungarian composer, conductor and teacher.
Eötvös was born in Székelyudvarhely, Transylvania, then part of Hungary, now Romania. He studied composition in Budapest and C ...
,
Zoltán Kodály and
Zoltán Jeney
Zoltán Jeney (4 March 1943 – 28 October 2019) was a Hungarian composer.
Jeney was born in Szolnok Hungary. He first studied piano and attended Pongrácz's composition classes at the Debrecen Secondary Music School, later continuing compositi ...
among them. Bartók was among the most significant musicians of the 20th century. His music was invigorated by the themes, modes, and rhythmic patterns of the Hungarian and neighbouring folk music traditions he studied, which he synthesised with influences from his contemporaries into his own distinctive style.
Folk music is a prominent part of the national identity and has been significant in former country parts that belong—since the 1920 Treaty of Trianon—to neighbouring countries such as Romania, Slovakia, Poland and especially in southern Slovakia and Transylvania. After the establishment of a music academy led by Liszt and
Ferenc Erkel
Ferenc Erkel ( hu, Erkel Ferenc , german: link=no, Franz Erkel; November 7, 1810June 15, 1893) was a Hungarian composer, conductor and pianist. He was the father of Hungarian grand opera, written mainly on historical themes, which are still o ...
, Hungary produced an important number of art musicians:
* Pianists: Ernő von Dohnányi,
Ervin Nyiregyházi
Ervin Nyiregyházi (January 19, 1903, BudapestApril 8, 1987, Los Angeles) was a Hungarian-American pianist and composer. After several years on the concert stage in the 1920s, he descended into relative obscurity before briefly reemerging in the ...
,
Andor Földes,
Tamás Vásáry,
György Sándor,
Géza Anda,
Annie Fischer
Annie Fischer (July 5, 1914April 10, 1995) was a Hungarian
classical pianist.
Biography
Fischer was born into a Jewish family in Budapest and studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music with Ernő Dohnányi and Arnold Szekely. She began her ...
,
György Cziffra
Christian Georges Cziffra (; born Cziffra Krisztián György; 5 November 192115 January 1994) was a Hungarian-French virtuoso pianist and composer. He is considered to be one of the greatest virtuoso pianists of the twentieth century. Among ...
,
Edward Kilényi,
Bálint Vázsonyi,
András Schiff
Sir András Schiff (; born 21 December 1953) is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor, who has received numerous major awards and honours, including the Grammy Award, Gramophone Award, Mozart Medal, and Royal Academy of Mus ...
,
Zoltán Kocsis
Zoltán Kocsis (; 30 May 1952 – 6 November 2016) was a Hungarian pianist, conductor and composer.
Biography
Studies
Born in Budapest, he began his musical studies at the age of five and continued them at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in 19 ...
,
Dezső Ránki,
Jenő Jandó
Jenő Jandó (; born 1 February 1952) is a Hungarian pianist and Professor of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary.
Background and education
Jandó studied piano at the Liszt Academy with Katalin Nemes and Pál Kadosa, la ...
and others.
* Violinists:
Joseph Joachim,
Leopold Auer
Leopold von Auer ( hu, Auer Lipót; June 7, 1845July 15, 1930) was a Hungarian violinist, academic, conductor, composer, and instructor. Many of his students went on to become prominent concert performers and teachers.
Early life and career
Au ...
,
Jenő Hubay
Jenő Hubay, Jenő Hubay von Szalatna, hu, szalatnai Hubay Jenő (; 15 September 185812 March 1937), also known by his German name Eugen Huber (), was a Hungarian violinist, composer and music teacher.
Early life
Hubay was born into a Ge ...
,
Jelly d'Arányi
Jelly d'Aranyi, fully Jelly Aranyi de Hunyadvár ( hu, Hunyadvári Aranyi Jelly (30 May 189330 March 1966) was a Hungarian violinist who made her home in London.
She was born in Budapest, the great-niece of Joseph Joachim and sister of the violin ...
,
Joseph Szigeti
Joseph Szigeti ( hu">Szigeti József, ; 5 September 189219 February 1973) was a Hungarian violinist.
Born into a musical family, he spent his early childhood in a small town in Transylvania. He quickly proved himself to be a child prodigy on ...
,
Sándor Végh Sándor Végh (17 May 19126 January 1997) was a Hungarian, later French, violinist and conductor. He was best known as one of the great chamber music violinists of the twentieth century.
Education
Sándor Végh was born in 1912 in Kolozsvár, T ...
,
Emil Telmanyi,
Ede Zathurecky,
Zsigmondy,
Franz von Vecsey
Franz von Vecsey (born Ferenc Vecsey; 23 March 18935 April 1935) was a Hungarian violinist and composer, who became a well-known virtuoso in Europe through the early 20th century.
Early life and career
He was born in Budapest and began his vi ...
, Zoltán Székely, Tibor Varga (violinist), Tibor Varga and newcomers Antal Szalai, Vilmos Szabadi, Kristóf Baráti and others.
* Opera singers: Astrid Varnay, József Simándy, Júlia Várady, Julia Hamari, Júlia Hamari, Kolos Kováts (Bluebeard in Bartók's Bluebeard)
* Conductors: Eugene Ormandy, George Szell, Antal Doráti, János Ferencsik, Fritz Reiner, sir Georg Solti, István Kertész (conductor), István Kertész, Ferenc Fricsay, Zoltán Rozsnyai,
Sándor Végh Sándor Végh (17 May 19126 January 1997) was a Hungarian, later French, violinist and conductor. He was best known as one of the great chamber music violinists of the twentieth century.
Education
Sándor Végh was born in 1912 in Kolozsvár, T ...
, Arpad Joo, Árpád Joó, Ádám Fischer, Iván Fischer,
Péter Eötvös
Péter Eötvös ( hu, Eötvös Péter, ; born 2 January 1944) is a Hungarian composer, conductor and teacher.
Eötvös was born in Székelyudvarhely, Transylvania, then part of Hungary, now Romania. He studied composition in Budapest and C ...
,
Zoltán Kocsis
Zoltán Kocsis (; 30 May 1952 – 6 November 2016) was a Hungarian pianist, conductor and composer.
Biography
Studies
Born in Budapest, he began his musical studies at the age of five and continued them at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in 19 ...
,
Tamás Vásáry, Gilbert Varga and others
* String Quartets: Budapest String Quartet, Budapest Quartet, Hungarian Quartet, Végh Quartet, Takács Quartet, Kodály Quartet, Éder Quartet, Festetics String Quartet, Festetics Quartet,
Broughton claims that Hungary's "infectious sound has been surprisingly influential on neighboring countries (thanks perhaps to the common Austro-Hungarian history) and it's not uncommon to hear Hungarian-sounding tunes in Romania, Slovakia and Poland". It is also strong in the Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, Szabolcs-Szatmár area and in the southwest part of Transdanubia, near the border with Croatia. The Busójárás carnival in Mohács is a major Hungarian folk music event, formerly featuring the long-established and well-regarded Bogyiszló Orchestra.
[Broughton, pp. 159–167]
Hungarian classical music has long been an "experiment, made from Hungarian antecedents and on Hungarian soil, to create a conscious musical culture [using the] musical world of the folk song". Although the Hungarian upper class has long had cultural and political connections with the rest of Europe, leading to an influx of European musical ideas, the rural peasants maintained their own traditions such that by the end of the 19th-century Hungarian composers could draw on rural peasant music to (re)create a Hungarian classical style.
For example, Bartók collected folk songs from across Central and Eastern Europe, including Romania and Slovakia, while Kodály was more interested in creating a distinctively Hungarian musical style.
During the era of communist rule in Hungary (1944–1989), a Song Committee scoured and censored popular music for traces of subversion and ideological impurity. Since then, however, the Hungarian music industry has begun to recover, producing successful performers in the fields of jazz such as trumpeter Rudolf Tomsits, pianist-composer Károly Binder and, in a modernised form of Hungarian folk, Ferenc Sebő and Márta Sebestyén. The three giants of Hungarian rock, Illés (band), Illés, Metró (Hungarian band), Metró and Omega (band), Omega, remain very popular, especially Omega, which has followings in Germany and beyond as well as in Hungary. Older veteran underground bands such as Beatrice (band), Beatrice, from the 1980s, also remain popular.
Literature
In the earliest times, Hungarian language was written in a Old Hungarian script, runic-like script (although it was not used for literature purposes in the modern interpretation). The country switched to the Latin alphabet after being Christianised under the reign of Stephen I of Hungary in the 11th century. The oldest remained written record in Hungarian language is a fragment in the Establishing charter of the abbey of Tihany (1055) which contains several Hungarian terms, among them the words ''feheruuaru rea meneh hodu utu rea'', "up the military road to Székesfehérvár, Fehérvár" The rest of the document was written in Latin.
The oldest remaining complete text in Hungarian language is the Funeral Sermon and Prayer ''(Halotti beszéd és könyörgés)'' (1192–1195), a translation of a Latin sermon. The oldest remaining poem in Hungarian is the Old Hungarian ''Lamentations of Mary'' ''(Ómagyar Mária-siralom)'', also a (not very strict) translation from Latin, from the 13th century. It is also the oldest surviving
Uralic
The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian lan ...
poem. Among the first chronicles about Hungarian history were ''Gesta Hungarorum'' (''Deeds of the Hungarians'') by the unknown author usually called Anonymus (notary of Béla III), Anonymus, and ''Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum'' (''Deeds of the Huns and the Hungarians'') by Simon Kézai. Both are in Latin. These chronicles mix history with legends, so historically they are not always authentic. Another chronicle is the ''Képes krónika'' (''Illustrated Chronicle''), which was written for
Louis the Great
Louis I, also Louis the Great ( hu, Nagy Lajos; hr, Ludovik Veliki; sk, Ľudovít Veľký) or Louis the Hungarian ( pl, Ludwik Węgierski; 5 March 132610 September 1382), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1342 and King of Poland from 1370. ...
.
Renaissance literature flourished under the reign of King Matthias. Janus Pannonius, although he wrote in Latin, is considered one of the most important persons in Hungarian literature, being the only significant Hungarian Humanist poet of the period. The first printing house was also founded during Matthias' reign, by András Hess in Buda. The first book printed in Hungary was the ''Chronica Hungarorum''. The most important poets of the period were Bálint Balassi and Miklós Zrínyi. Balassi's poetry shows medieval influences, his poems can be divided into three sections: love poems, war poems and religious poems. Zrínyi's most significant work, the epic ''The Siege of Sziget, Szigeti veszedelem'' (''The'' ''Peril of Sziget'', written in 1648/49) is written in a fashion similar to the ''Iliad'' and recounts the heroic Siege of Szigetvár, Battle of Szigetvár, where his great-grandfather died while defending the castle of Szigetvár. Among the religious literary works, the most important is the Bible translation by Gáspár Károlyi (the second Bible translations into Hungarian, Hungarian Bible translation in history), the Protestant pastor of Gönc, in 1590. The translation is called the ''Bible of Vizsoly'', after the town where it was first published.
The Hungarian enlightenment took place about fifty years after the French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment. The first enlightened writers were Maria Theresa's bodyguards (György Bessenyei, János Batsányi and others). The greatest poets of the time were Mihály Csokonai and Dániel Berzsenyi. The greatest figure of the language reform was Ferenc Kazinczy. The Hungarian language became feasible for all type of scientific explanations from this time, and furthermore, many new words were coined for describing new inventions.
Hungarian literature has recently gained some renown outside the borders of Hungary (mostly through translations into German, French and English). Some modern Hungarian authors have become increasingly popular in Germany and Italy especially Sándor Márai, Péter Esterházy, Péter Nádas and Imre Kertész. The latter is a contemporary Jewish writer who survived the Holocaust and won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2002. The older classics of Hungarian literature and Hungarian poetry have remained almost totally unknown outside Hungary. János Arany, a famous 19th-century Hungarian poet, is still much loved in Hungary (especially his collection of ballads), among several other "true classics" like Sándor Petőfi, the poet of the Revolution of 1848, Endre Ady, Mihály Babits, Dezső Kosztolányi, Attila József, Miklós Radnóti and János Pilinszky. Other well-known Hungarian authors are Mór Jókai. Frigyes Karinthy, László Krasznahorkai, Ferenc Móra, Géza Gárdonyi, Zsigmond Móricz, Ephraim Kishon, Géza Gárdonyi, Arthur Koestler, Ferenc Molnár, Elie Wiesel, Kálmán Mikszáth, Gyula Illyés, Miklós Szentkuthy, Magda Szabó and Stephen Vizinczey.
Cuisine
Traditional dishes such as the world-famous goulash (''gulyás'' stew or ''gulyás'' soup) feature prominently in Hungarian cuisine. Dishes are often flavoured with paprika (ground red peppers), a Hungarian innovation. The paprika powder, obtained from a special type of pepper, is one of the most common spices used in typical Hungarian cuisine. Thick, heavy sour cream called ''tejföl'' is often used to soften the flavour of a dish. The famous Hungarian hot river fish soup called fisherman's soup or ''halászlé'' is usually a rich mixture of several kinds of poached fish.
Other dishes are chicken paprikash, foie gras made of goose liver, ''pörkölt'' stew, ''vadas'', (game stew with vegetable gravy and Spätzle, dumplings), trout with almonds and salty and sweet dumplings, like ''túrós csusza'', (dumplings with fresh Quark (dairy product), quark cheese and thick sour cream). Desserts include the iconic Dobos torte, strudels (''rétes''), filled with apple, cherry, poppy seed or cheese, Palatschinke, Gundel pancake, plum dumplings (''Knödel, szilvás gombóc''), ''somlói'' dumplings, dessert soups like chilled sour cherry soup and sweet chestnut puree, ''gesztenyepüré'' (cooked chestnuts mashed with sugar and rum and split into crumbs, topped with whipped cream). ''Pretzel, Perec'' and ''kifli'' are widely popular pastries.
The ''csárda'' is the most distinctive type of Hungarian inn, an old-style tavern offering traditional cuisine and beverages. ''Borozó'' usually denotes a cosy old-fashioned wine tavern, ''pince'' is a beer or wine cellar and a ''söröző'' is a pub offering draught beer and sometimes meals. The ''bisztró'' is an inexpensive restaurant often with self-service. The ''büfé'' is the cheapest place, although one may have to eat standing at a counter. Pastries, cakes and coffee are served at the confectionery called ''cukrászda'', while an ''eszpresszó'' is a café.
Pálinka is a fruit brandy, distilled from fruit grown in the orchards situated on the Great Hungarian Plain. It is a spirit native to Hungary and comes in a variety of flavours including apricot (''barack'') and cherry (''cseresznye''). However, plum (''szilva'') is the most popular flavour. Beer goes well with many traditional Hungarian dishes. The five main Hungarian beer brands are: Borsod Brewery, Borsodi, Soproni, Arany Ászok, Kõbányai, and Dreher Brewery, Dreher. People traditionally do not clink their glasses or mugs when drinking beer. There is an urban legend in Hungarian culture that Austrian generals clinked their beer glasses to celebrate the execution of
the 13 Martyrs of Arad in 1849. Many people still follow the tradition, although younger people often disavow it, citing that the vow was only meant to last 150 years.
Hungarian wine, Hungary is ideal for wine-making, and the country can be divided into numerous regions. The Romans brought vines to Pannonia, and by the 5th century AD, there are records of extensive vineyards in what is now Hungary. The Hungarians brought their wine-making knowledge from the East. According to Ahmad ibn Rustah, Ibn Rustah, the Hungarian tribes were familiar with wine-making long before their
conquest of the Carpathian Basin. The different wine regions offer a great variety of styles: the main products of the country are elegant and full-bodied dry whites with good acidity, although complex sweet whites (Tokaj wine region, Tokaj), elegant (Eger wine region, Eger) and full-bodied robust reds (Villány and Szekszárd). The main varieties are: Olaszrizling, Hárslevelű, Furmint, Pinot gris or Szürkebarát, Chardonnay (whites), Kékfrankos (or Blaufränkisch, Blaufrankisch in German), Kadarka, Blauer Portugieser, Portugieser, Zweigelt, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The most famous wines from Hungary are Tokaji, Tokaji Aszú and Egri Bikavér. Tokaji, meaning "of Tokaj", or "from Tokaj" in Hungarian, is used to label wines from the wine region of Tokaj. Tokaji wine has received accolades from numerous great writers and composers including Ludwig van Beethoven, Beethoven, Franz Liszt, Liszt, Franz Schubert, Schubert and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Goethe; Joseph Haydn's favourite wine was a Tokaji.
Louis XV and Frederick the Great tried to outdo one another when they entertained guests with Tokaji. Napoleon III ordered 30–40 barrels of Tokaji at the French Royal Court every year. Gustav III of Sweden loved Tokaji.
In Russia, customers included Peter the Great and Elizabeth of Russia, Empress Elizabeth, while Catherine the Great actually established a Russian garrison in the town of Tokaj with the aim of assuring regular wine deliveries to Saint Petersburg.
For over 150 years, a blend of forty Hungarian herbs has been used to create the liqueur unicum. Unicum is a bitter, dark-coloured liqueur that can be drunk as an apéritif or after a meal, thus helping digestion.
Folk art
Ugrós (jumping dances) are old-style dances dating back to the Middle Ages. The ugrós can include solo or couple dances accompanied by old-style music, shepherd and other solo man's dances from Transylvania, and marching dances, along with remnants of medieval weapon dances. Karikázó is a circle dance performed by women accompanied by the singing of folk songs. Csárdás are newer style dances developed in the 18 and 19th centuries, which includes embroidered costumes and energetic music. From the men's intricate boot slapping dances to the ancient women's circle dances, Csárdás demonstrates the infectious exuberance of the Hungarian folk dancing still celebrated in the villages. Verbunkos is a solo man's dance evolved from the recruiting performances of the Austro-Hungarian army. The legényes is a men's solo dance done by the ethnic Hungarian people living in the Kalotaszeg region of Transylvania. Although usually danced by young men, it can be also danced by older men. The dance is generally performed freestyle by one dancer at a time in front of a band. Women participate in the dance by standing in lines to the side and singing or shouting verses while the men dance. Each man performs a number of points (dance phrases), typically four to eight without repetition. Each point consists of four parts, each lasting four counts. The first part is usually the same for everyone (there are only a few variations).
It was in the beginning of the 18th-century that the present style of Hungarian folk art took shape, incorporating both
Renaissance and Baroque elements, depending on the area, as well as Persian Sasanian Empire, Sassanide influences. Flowers and leaves, sometimes a bird or a spiral ornament, are the principal decorative themes. The most frequent ornament is a flower with a centrepiece resembling the eye of a peacock's feather. Nearly all the manifestations of folk art practiced elsewhere in Europe also flourished among the Magyar peasantry at one time or another, their ceramics and textile being the most highly developed of all. The finest achievements in their textile arts are the embroideries which vary from region to region. Those of Kalotaszeg are charming products of Oriental design, sewn chiefly in a single colour—red, blue, or black. Soft in line, the embroideries are applied on altar cloths, pillowcases, and sheets.
The Tolna County, Sárköz and Mezőkövesd, Matyóföld regions produce the finest embroideries. The women's caps generally exhibit black and white designs as delicate as lace and give evidence of the people's wonderfully subtle artistic feeling. The embroidery motifs applied to women's wear have also been transposed to tablecloths and runners suitable for modern use as wall decorations.
Sport
Hungary at the Olympics, Hungarian athletes have been successful contenders in the Summer Olympic Games. Hungary ranks 9th with a total of 511 medals in the All-time Olympic Games medal table, all-time Summer Olympic Games medal count. Hungary has the third-highest number of Olympic medals per capita and second-highest number of gold medals per capita in the world. Hungary has historically excelled in Olympic water sports. In water polo the men's Hungarian team is the Water polo at the Summer Olympics, leading medal winner by a significant margin, and in swimming List of Olympic medalists in swimming (men), the men's and List of Olympic medalists in swimming (women), the women's teams are both rank fifth-most successful. Hungary leads the overall medal count in Canoeing at the Summer Olympics, canoeing and kayaking. Hungary won its first gold medal in Winter Olympics in 2018 in men's short track speed skating with a team of four: Csaba Burján, Shaolin Sándor Liu, Shaoang Liu, and Viktor Knoch.
Hungary hosted many global sports events, including the 1997 World Amateur Boxing Championships, 2000 World Fencing Championships, 2001 World Allround Speed Skating Championships, 2008 World Interuniversity Games, 2008 World Modern Pentathlon Championships, 2010 ITU World Championship Series, 2011 IIHF World Championship, 2013 World Fencing Championships, 2013 World Wrestling Championships, 2014 World Masters Athletics Championships, 2017 World Aquatics Championships and 2017 World Judo Championships, only in the last two decade. Besides these, Hungary was the home of many European-level tournaments, like 2006 European Aquatics Championships, 2010 European Aquatics Championships, 2013 European Judo Championships, 2013 European Karate Championships, 2017 European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships, 2017 European Rhythmic Gymnastics Championship and will be the host of 4 matches in the UEFA Euro 2020, which will be held in the 67,889-seat new Multi-purpose stadium, multi-purpose New Puskás Ferenc Stadium, Puskás Ferenc Stadium.
The Hungarian Grand Prix in Formula One has been held at the Hungaroring just outside Budapest, which circuit has Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA Grade 1 license. Since 1986, the race has been a round of the Formula One World Championship. The track was completely resurfaced for the first time in early 2016, and it was announced the Grand Prix's deal was extended for a further five years, until 2026.
Chess is a popular and successful sport, and the Hungarian players are the eighth most powerful overall on the ranking of FIDE, World Chess Federation. There are about 54 Grandmaster (chess), Grandmasters and 118 FIDE titles, International Masters, which is more than in France or United Kingdom. Judit Polgár generally considered the Glossary of chess#Strength, strongest female chess player of all time. Some of the world's best Sabre (fencing), sabre athletes have historically also hailed from Hungary, and in 2009, the Hungary men's national ice hockey team qualified for their first Ice Hockey World Championships, IIHF World Championship, in 2015, they qualified for their second world championship in the top division.
Football
Hungary has won three Olympic football titles, and the country finished as runners-up in the 1938 FIFA World Cup, 1938 and 1954 FIFA World Cups, and third in 1964 European Nations' Cup, Euro 1964. Hungary revolutionised the sport in the 1950s, laying the tactical fundamentals of Total Football, total football and dominating international football with the ''Aranycsapat'' ("Golden Team"), which included Ferenc Puskás, top goal scorer of the 20th century,
to whom FIFA dedicated its newest award, the FIFA Puskás Award, Puskás Award. The team of that era has the second World Football Elo Ratings#All-time highest ratings, all-time highest Football Elo Rating in the world, with 2166, and one of the longest undefeated runs in football history, remaining unbeaten in 31 games spanning more than four years.
The post-golden age decades saw a gradually weakening Hungary, though recently there is renewal in all aspects. The Hungarian Children's Football Federation was founded in 2008, as youth development thrives. They hosted the 2010 UEFA Futsal Championship in Budapest and Debrecen, the first time the Hungarian Football Federation, MLSZ staged a UEFA finals tournament. Also, the national teams have produced some surprise successes such as beating UEFA Euro 2004, Euro 2004 winner Greece national football team, Greece 3–2 and 2006 FIFA World Cup winner Italy national football team, Italy 3–1. During UEFA Euro 2016 Hungary won UEFA Euro 2016 Group F, Group F and were eventually defeated in the round of 16.
Media
During the Communist era (1945–1989) the mass media in Hungary were mainly under Stalinism, Stalinist control. In the 2020s major television channels include TV2 (Hungarian TV channel), TV2 and RTL (Hungarian TV channel), RTL and radio networks include Karc FM and Radio 1. Some daily newspapers, such as ''Magyar Hírlap'', no longer issue print versions but maintain just an online presence, and others have closed in recent years. Many media outlets have "merged to form a conglomerate", the Central European Press and Media Foundation.
Hungary profile - Media
bbc.com. Retrieved 2 december 2022.
See also
* Outline of Hungary
* Index of Hungary-related articles
Notes
References
Further reading
* Kontler, László: ''Millennium in Central Europe: A History of Hungary'', Atlantisz Könyvkiadó, Budapest, 1999 (East-European Non-Fiction), .
External links
; Government
Official site of the Hungarian Government
Official site of the Hungarian Prime Minister
Official site of the President of Hungary
Official Hungarian Tourism website
; General information
"Hungary"
in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''
Hungary
from the OECD
Hungary
at the European Union, EU
*
Forecasts for Hungary
from International Futures
Hungary
from the BBC News
Hungary
''The World Factbook''. Central Intelligence Agency.
Statistical Profile of Hungary at the Association of Religion Data Archives
*
FAO Country Profiles: Hungary
Daily News Hungary
Hungary Today – The latest news about Hungary
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