Bács-Kiskun (, ) is a county (''vármegye'' in Hungarian) located in southern
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
. It was created by the merger of the pre-
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
Bács-Bodrog and the southern parts of
Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun counties. With an area of 8,445 km
2, Bács-Kiskun is the largest
county
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
in the country, slightly larger than
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
. The terrain is mostly flat with slight emergences around
Baja. The
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
and largest city of Bács-Kiskun is
Kecskemét.
The county is also part of the
Danube-Kris-Mures-Tisa euroregion.
Geography
The county is known across Europe for its natural environment.
Kiskunság National Park is located in the area.
Location
Bács-Kiskun borders
Baranya,
Tolna, and
Fejér on the west (across the
Danube River);
Pest to the north,
Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok and
Csongrád on the east, across the
Tisza River. To the south Bács-Kiskun shares the international border with
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
, national_motto =
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
.
Bács-Kiskun lies on the
Great Hungarian Plain. The difference between its highest and lowest elevations is only 80 m.
Rivers
*
Danube
The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
*
Tisza
Lakes
*
Lake Szelid
*
Lake Vadkert
Symbols
Etymology
In
German, it is known as ''Komitat Bács-Kiskun'', in
Croatian and
Serbian as ''Bačko-kiškunska županija'' and in
Slovak as ''Báčsko-malokumánska župa''.
Coat of arms and flag
Coat of arms of Bács-Kiskun County is a modern creation based on older arms. The escutcheon is standing and shredded shield. The shield has a foam skirt with silver and blue shield. The arched upper edge of the shield has a three-barrel, oval-shaped, closed-door, golden wall clock.
The flag is vertically divided into two equal sections (blue and white), with the coat of arms on it. Its ratio is 2:1. The use of both coat of arms and flag is regulated by the county council.
History
Bács-Kiskun county was created from the pre-1938 counties Bács-Bodrog and Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun.
The county came into existence by the unification of some areas of
Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun (southern half) and
Bács-Bodrog county after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. The name Bács derives from the city of the same name,
Bač in modern
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
, national_motto =
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
(known as Bács in Hungarian), while Kiskun is the
Hungarian name for the region of
Little Cumania.
Demographics
In 2015, it had a population of 513,687 and the
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was 61/km
2.
Although the population is decreasing, the
birth rate in the county is positive, unlike in any other regions in Hungary.
Ethnicity
The population of the county is almost
homogeneous, with a
Hungarian majority (94.1%). Some
Croatian,
German and
Serbian people live around
Hajós and
Baja.
Total population (2011 census): 520,331
Ethnic groups (2011 census):
Identified themselves: 475 004 persons:
*
Hungarians
Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...
: 445 978 (93,89%)
*
Gypsies: 10 918 (2,30%)
*
Germans
Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...
: 9 528 (2,01%)
*Others and indefinable: 8 570 (1,80%)
Approx. 67,000 persons in Bács-Kiskun County did not declare their ethnic group at the 2011 census.
Religion
Religious adherence in the county according to 2011 census:
*Catholic – 259,822 (
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
– 258,758;
Greek Catholic – 998);
*
Reformed – 45,933;
*
Evangelical – 13,288;
*
Orthodox – 387;
*other religions – 9,279;
*
Non-religious – 62,391;
*
Atheism
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the Existence of God, existence of Deity, deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the ...
– 4,436;
*''Undeclared'' – 124,795.
Economy
Bács-Kiskun county accounted for 3.7% of the Gross Value Added of
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
in 2001. With almost EUR 1.9 billion, the GVA in Bács-Kiskun had increased by 50% compared to 1995.
Sectors
The
primary sector accounted for 12.3% of the Gross Value Added of the county in 2001, and this was the highest share of any county. However, this share is declining over the years: it was 15.6% in 1995.
The share of the secondary sector is relatively constant over the years, with 30.9% of the Gross Value Added in 2001 (compared to 29.5% in 1995). The tertiary sector's GVA has increased most, although it still had a low share (56.8%) compared to the country as a whole (64.4%).
Service and trade
Service and trade are the dominant sectors of Bács-Kiskun's economy, where privatisation occurred first.
80% of the industrial output is represented by the food, machine, wood, and printing industries. The more substantial companies in the region attracted more investment. In the course of privatisation the
Kecskemét cannery was purchased by
Heinz
The Kraft Heinz Foods Company, formerly the H. J. Heinz Company and commonly known as Heinz (), is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. ...
, the Kiskunhalas textile mill partially by
Levi's. During the
privatisation, the Danube Knitting Mill in
Baja was acquired by an American financial investment group
Among the industrial companies operating in the area of Baja are UNILEVER Rt. producing deep-
frozen products, the Bread factory of Bácska Sütoipari Rt., the
abattoir of DÉLHÚS and the Pannonia Brewery. The local government of
Baja are encouraging the expansion of foreign capital by reducing local taxes.
There are approximately 39,600 firms in the county, representing 4.6% of the national total. The majority of companies employ only several people; indeed, 95% have 10 or fewer employees. Two percent of companies belong in the medium category, employing between 21 and 50 people, while the number and proportion of those employing 300 or more is very small.
Agriculture
Fruit, vegetable,
corn and wheat production are the most successful branches of the region's agriculture. Compared to the other Hungarian counties, Bács-Kiskun has the second largest number of pigs (10% of the Hungarian pig stock) and 7% of cattle stock. The stock of sheep made up 194,000 at the end of 2002, 17.6% of Hungary's total stock and the largest in Hungary.
Transport
Road
On account of its central location, a great deal of the nation's traffic necessarily crosses the county. The total length of main roads in the county was 2,213 kilometres in 2002 so for every 100 square kilometres of land area, there are 26 kilometres of main road. Despite the fact that a great deal of labour has gone into improving the quality of the roads in the last decade, there has been a deterioration in their condition on account of their intensive use. Fifty-six kilometres of motorways crossed the county in 2002, making the road link with
Serbia
, image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg
, national_motto =
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...
and the
Balkans
The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
.
Highway M5 and Road 5 go through Bács-Kiskun. There are many second-class roads throughout the county, giving easy access to every village. The international railroad lines
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
-
Subotica
Subotica (, ; , , ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city in Central Europe and the administrative center of the North Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Formerly the largest city of Vojvodina region, contemporary Sub ...
-
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
and the national railroad
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
-
Cegléd
Cegléd (; ) is a city in Pest County, Pest county, Hungary, approximately southeast of the Hungarian capital, Budapest.
Name
The name of the town is of disputed origin. The name may be derived from the word "szeglet" (meaning "corner") due to i ...
-
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 ...
pass through Bács-Kiskun as well.
Rail
The length of railways was of 641 kilometres in 2001 (32% electrified) and the most important lines in the county are between
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
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 ...
and the route of the international express trains crossing Hungary in northwestern-southeastern direction leading to
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
. In addition to the main and secondary lines, there are a number of narrow gauge tracks for 'nostalgia trains' which operate as tourist attractions.
Baja is the most important traffic junction of the southern part of the country. Its rail and public road junction is especially important due to the presence of the
Danube
The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...
bridge which provides a link between the
Southern Great Plain and the
Transdanubian region. The city has the best-equipped port in the country, where further development possibilities await the investors. At present a 120 places ro-ro port terminal is under construction.
Air
The only airport in the county, in
Kecskemét, is a military one, chiefly used for the delivery of goods and occasionally for receiving civil aircraft. However, the county can be reached from the nearby
Ferihegy Airport of Budapest in less than an hour.
Politics
County Assembly
The county is governed by the
County board of supervisors, which is located in the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
.
The Bács-Kiskun County Council, elected at the 2024 local government elections, is made up of 23 counselors, with the following party composition:
President of the County Assembly
Members of the National Assembly
The following members elected of the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
during the
2022 parliamentary election:
Regional structure
Municipalities
Bács-Kiskun County has 1
urban county, 21
towns, 7 large villages and 90 villages.
Two-thirds of the population lives in the twenty cities/towns, among which the largest is the county seat, Kecskemét, where one-sixth of the total population resides. The town with the largest population density is
Kalocsa (353/km
2), the lowest population density is in the village of
Újsolt (6/km
2). City/towns have an average population density of 126/km
2, while villages have an average of 36/km
2.
Even though Bács-Kiskun is the fifth largest county of Hungary by population, the population density is less than half of the country's average. The villages are typically large. 13% of the population lives on farms and homesteads.
;City with county rights
(ordered by population, as of 2011
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
)
*
Kecskemét (111,411) – county seat
;Towns
*
Baja (36,267)
*
Kiskunfélegyháza (30,172)
*
Kiskunhalas (28,285)
*
Kalocsa (17,142)
*
Kiskőrös (14,236)
*
Kiskunmajsa (11,229)
*
Tiszakécske (11,430)
*
Lajosmizse (11,050)
*
Jánoshalma (9,008)
*
Kecel (8,711)
*
Kunszentmiklós (8,561)
*
Soltvadkert (7,309)
*
Solt (7,019)
*
Bácsalmás (6,753)
*
Kerekegyháza (6,284)
*
Szabadszállás
Szabadszállás is a small town in Bács-Kiskun county, Hungary, 80 kilometres south of Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the ...
(6,093)
*
Izsák (5,650)
*
Mélykút (5,200)
*
Tompa (4,267)
*
Dunavecse (3,881)
*
Hajós (3,104)
;Villages
*
Akasztó
*
Ágasegyháza
*
Apostag
*
Ballószög
*
Balotaszállás
*
Bácsbokod 
*
Bácsborsód
*
Bácsszentgyörgy
*
Bácsszőlős
*
Bátmonostor
*
Bátya
*
Borota
*
Bócsa
*
Bugac 
*
Bugacpusztaháza
*
Császártöltés
*
Csátalja
*
Csávoly
*
Csengőd
*
Csikéria
*
Csólyospálos
*
Dávod
*
Drágszél
*
Dunaegyháza
*
Dunafalva
*
Dunapataj 
*
Dunaszentbenedek
*
Dunatetétlen
*
Dusnok
*
Érsekcsanád
*
Érsekhalma
*
Fajsz
*
Felsőlajos
*
Felsőszentiván
*
Foktő
*
Fülöpháza
*
Fülöpjakab
*
Fülöpszállás
*
Gara
*
Gátér
*
Géderlak
*
Harkakötöny
*
Harta 
*
Helvécia
*
Hercegszántó
*
Homokmégy
*
Imrehegy
*
Jakabszállás
*
Jászszentlászló
*
Kaskantyú
*
Katymár
*
Kelebia
*
Kéleshalom
*
Kisszállás
*
Kömpöc
*
Kunadacs
*
Kunbaja
*
Kunbaracs
*
Kunfehértó
*
Kunpeszér
*
Kunszállás
*
Ladánybene
*Lakitelek

*Madaras
*Mátételke
*Miske
*Móricgát
*Nagybaracska
*Nemesnádudvar
*Nyárlőrinc
*Ordas
*Orgovány
*Öregcsertő
*Páhi
*Pálmonostora
*Petőfiszállás
*Pirtó
*Rém
*Soltszentimre
*Sükösd

*Szakmár
*Szalkszentmárton
*Szank
*Szentkirály
*Szeremle
*Tabdi
*Tass, Hungary, Tass
*Tataháza
*Tázlár
*Tiszaalpár

*Tiszaug
*Uszód
*
Újsolt
*Újtelek
*Vaskút
*Városföld
*Zsana

municipalities are ''large'' villages.
There are also public, religion and private schools in Bács- Kiskun county.
Primaries are almost in all of the villages and towns. Some of them are quite big, but there are actually small schools with only a few students.
One of the oldest schools is the Calvinist Grammar School, which was founded in 1564. Religion schools are important in the county, as well as it is in this way all around in Hungary (in the county: Calvinist Grammar Schools- Kecskemét, Kiskunhalas, "Piarista" Catholic Grammar School, Kecskemét- for boys only-, "Angolkisasszonyok" Catholic Grammar School, Kecskemét- for girls only.). 100 years ago children could only learn in these schools, the first public grammar schools were founded only in the 1950s. Almost all of the religion schools were closed in the 1940s by the communist government, and were refounded only in the 1990s (like all of the Calvinist schools).
The main public grammar schools of the county are the Bibó István Grammar School (Kiskunhalas), Bányai Júlia Grammar School (Kecskemét), Katona József Grammar School (Kecskemét) and III. Béla Grammar School (Baja).
There are many competitions to the children in almost all of the subjects (mainly in Hungarian, English, German and Mathematics).
There's only one University in Kecskemét, the Károli Gáspár Calvinist University of Law (it used to be the Calvinist Grammar School from 1991 to 1997).
The College of Kecskemét have several fields of study, like Teacher, Gardener, and so on.
Miscellaneous topics
List of notable residents
Gallery
File:Városi Tanácsház (2253. számú műemlék) 4.jpg, Kecskemét, the capital of the county
File:Városháza (Grassalkovich-ház) (2123. számú műemlék).jpg, Town hall of Baja
File:Csira-szék.jpg, Kiskunság National Park
File:Cathédrale de Kalocsa.jpg, Cathedral in Kalocsa
File:Csonkatorony.jpg, Maimed Tower in Soltszentimre
File:Petőfi szülőház Kiskőrös.JPG, House of Sándor Petőfi in Kiskőrös
File:R. k. kápolna (2346. számú műemlék) 2.jpg, Saint Anne Chapel in Sükösd
File:Sáfrik-féle szélmalom (2302. számú műemlék).jpg, Windmill in Kiskunhalas
See also
* List of Bács-Kiskun-related topics
* List of people from Bács-Kiskun
* Former Bács-Bodrog County of the Kingdom of Hungary
References
External links
Official sitein English, Hungarian, German, and French
Petőfi Népe (baon.hu) – The county portalInformationin English, Hungarian, and German
The Archive of Bács-Kiskun County
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bacs-Kiskun
Bács-Kiskun County,
Counties of Hungary
Bačka, *
1950 establishments in Hungary