CIA - The World Factbook

Hungary became a Christian kingdom in A.D. 1000 and for many centuries served as a bulwark against Ottoman Turkish expansion in Europe. The kingdom eventually became part of the polyglot Austro-Hungarian Empire, which collapsed during World War I. The country fell under Communist rule following World War II. In 1956, a revolt and an announced withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact were met with a massive military intervention by Moscow. Under the leadership of Janos KADAR in 1968, Hungary began liberalizing its economy, introducing so-called "Goulash Communism." Hungary held its first multiparty elections in 1990 and initiated a free market economy. It joined NATO in 1999 and the EU in 2004.

Central Europe, northwest of Romania

slightly smaller than Indiana

temperate; cold, cloudy, humid winters; warm summers

mostly flat to rolling plains; hills and low mountains on the Slovakian border

bauxite, coal, natural gas, fertile soils, arable land

the upgrading of Hungary's standards in waste management, energy efficiency, and air, soil, and water pollution to meet EU requirements will require large investments

landlocked; strategic location astride main land routes between Western Europe and Balkan Peninsula as well as between Ukraine and Mediterranean basin; the north-south flowing Duna (Danube) and Tisza Rivers divide the country into three large regions

9,880,059 (July 2010 est.)

9.43 births/1,000 population (2010 est.)

12.9 deaths/1,000 population (July 2010 est.)

0.87 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2010 est.)

1.36 children born/woman (2010 est.)

fewer than 100 (2001 est.)

Hungarian 92.3%, Roma 1.9%, other or unknown 5.8% (2001 census)

Roman Catholic 51.9%, Calvinist 15.9%, Lutheran 3%, Greek Catholic 2.6%, other Christian 1%, other or unspecified 11.1%, unaffiliated 14.5% (2001 census)

Hungarian 93.6%, other or unspecified 6.4% (2001 census)

parliamentary democracy

19 counties (megyek, singular - megye), 23 urban counties (singular - megyei varos), and 1 capital city (fovaros)

25 December 1000 (crowning of King STEPHEN I, traditional founding date)

Saint Stephen's Day, 20 August

18 August 1949, effective 20 August 1949; revised 19 April 1972; 18 October 1989; and 1997

based on the German-Austrian legal system; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations

18 years of age; universal

unicameral National Assembly or Orszaggyules (386 seats; members elected by popular vote under a system of proportional and direct representation to serve four-year terms)

Constitutional Court (judges are elected by the National Assembly for nine-year terms)

Alliance of Free Democrats or SzDSz [Attila RETKES]; Christian Democratic People's Party or KDNP [Semjen ZSOLT]; Hungarian Civic Alliance or Fidesz [Viktor ORBAN, chairman]; Hungarian Democratic Forum or MDF [Ibolya DAVID]; Hungarian Socialist Party or MSzP [Ildiko LENDVAI]; Movement for a Better Hungary or Jobbik [Gabor VONA]; Politics Can Be Different or LMP [13-member leadership]

Air Work Group (works to reduce air pollution in towns and cities); Company For Freedom Rights (Tarsasag a Szabadsagjogokert) or TASZ (personal data protection); Danube Circle (protests the building of the Gabchikovo-Nagymaros dam); Green Future (protests the impact of lead contamination of local factory on health of the people); environmentalists: Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Society (Magyar Madartani Egyesulet)or MME; Green Alternative (Zold Alternativa)

Australia Group, BIS, CE, CEI, CERN, EAPC, EBRD, EIB, ESA (cooperating state), EU, FAO, G-9, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IEA, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MINURSO, NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OIF (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, Schengen Convention, SECI, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNFICYP, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC

three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and green; the flag dates to the national movement of the 18th and 19th centuries, and fuses the medieval colors of the Hungarian coat of arms with the revolutionary tricolor form of the French flag; folklore attributes virtues to the colors: red for strength, white for faithfulness, and green for hope; alternatively, the red is seen as being for the blood spilled in defense of the land, white for freedom, and green for the pasturelands that make up so much of the country

Hungary has made the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy, with a per capita income nearly two-thirds that of the EU-25 average. The private sector accounts for more than 80% of GDP. Foreign ownership of and investment in Hungarian firms is widespread, with cumulative foreign direct investment totaling more than $200 billion since 1989. The government's austerity measures, imposed since late 2006, have reduced the budget deficit from over 9% of GDP in 2006 to 3.3% in 2008. Hungary's impending inability to service its short-term debt - brought on by the global financial crisis in late 2008 - led Budapest to seek and receive an IMF-arranged financial assistance package worth over $25 billion. The global economic downturn, declining exports, and low domestic consumption and fixed asset accumulation, dampened by government austerity measures, resulted in an economic contraction of 6.7% in 2009.

$184.9 billion (2009 est.)

$198.2 billion (2008 est.)

$197 billion (2007 est.)

$125.7 billion (2009 est.)

3.8 million (January 2010 est.)

19% of GDP (2009 est.)

78% of GDP (2009 est.)

72.9% of GDP (2008 est.)

6.25% (31 December 2009)

10% (31 December 2008)

6.66% (31 December 2009)

10.18% (31 December 2008)

$30.27 billion (31 December 2009)

$32.78 billion (31 December 2008)

$40.7 billion (31 December 2009)

$47.49 billion (31 December 2008)

$88.67 billion (31 December 2009)

$114.3 billion (31 December 2008)

$25.6 billion (31 December 2009)

$21.9 billion (31 December 2008)

$47.65 billion (31 December 2007)

wheat, corn, sunflower seed, potatoes, sugar beets; pigs, cattle, poultry, dairy products

mining, metallurgy, construction materials, processed foods, textiles, chemicals (especially pharmaceuticals), motor vehicles

40.03 billion kWh (2008 est.)

37.4 billion kWh (2008 est.)

9.446 billion kWh (2008 est.)

13.35 billion kWh (2008 est.)

37,830 bbl/day (2008 est.)

162,100 bbl/day (2008 est.)

72,050 bbl/day (2008 est.)

195,400 bbl/day (2008 est.)

20.18 million bbl (1 January 2009 est.)

2.643 billion cu m (2008 est.)

13.17 billion cu m (2008 est.)

21 million cu m (2008 est.)

11.47 billion cu m (2008 est.)

8.098 billion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)

$700 million (2009 est.)

-$12.98 billion (2008 est.)

$83.34 billion (2009 est.)

$107.5 billion (2008 est.)

machinery and equipment 61.1%, other manufactures 28.7%, food products 6.5%, raw materials 2%, fuels and electricity 1.6% (2009 est.)

Germany 25.4%, Italy 5.2%, Romania 5.1%, Austria 4.7%, Taiwan 4.5%, Slovakia 4.5%, France 4.5%, UK 4.4% (2008)

$76.89 billion (2009 est.)

$107.9 billion (2008 est.)

machinery and equipment 50%, fuels and electricity 11%, food products, raw materials

Germany 24.6%, Russia 8.7%, China 7.2%, Austria 6%, Taiwan 4.9%, Netherlands 4.4%, France 4.2%, Italy 4.1% (2008)

$44.18 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$33.87 billion (31 December 2008 est.)

$116.8 billion (31 December 2009)

$212.1 billion (31 December 2008)

$238.5 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$237.1 billion (31 December 2008 est.)

$160.2 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$159.7 billion (31 December 2008 est.)

forints (HUF) per US dollar - 200.64 (2009), 171.8 (2008), 183.83 (2007), 210.39 (2006), 199.58 (2005)

3.094 million (2008)

12.224 million (2008)

AM 5, FM 90, shortwave 1 (2008)

2.261 million (2009)

5.873 million (2008)

gas 4,407 km; oil 987 km; refined products 335 km (2009)

1,622 km (most on Danube River) (2008)

Budapest, Dunaujvaros, Gyor-Gonyu, Csepel, Baja, Mohacs

Land Forces, Hungarian Air Force (Magyar Legiero, ML) (2010)

18-50 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription; 6-month service obligation (2008)

1.75% of GDP (2005 est.)

bilateral government, legal, technical and economic working group negotiations continue in 2006 with Slovakia over Hungary's failure to complete its portion of the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros hydroelectric dam project along the Danube; as a member state that forms part of the EU's external border, Hungary has implemented the strict Schengen border rules

transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin and cannabis and for South American cocaine destined for Western Europe; limited producer of precursor chemicals, particularly for amphetamine and methamphetamine; efforts to counter money laundering, related to organized crime and drug trafficking are improving but remain vulnerable; significant consumer of ecstasy