Hungary





The Republic of Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe, bordered
by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. It is
known locally as the Land of the Magyars or Magyarorsz‡g. Together with
Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic it forms the Visegr‡d group of
nations.

                                                National motto: None
History                                 Official language Hungarian
                                        Capital           Budapest
                                        President         Ferenc M‡dl
Tradition holds that Hungary was        Prime minister    PŽter Medgyessy
founded by çrp‡d, who led the Magyars
into the Pannonian plains in the 9th    Area              Ranked 108th
century. The kingdom of Hungary was     Ê- Total          93,030 km2
established in 1000 by Saint-King       Ê- % water        0.74%
Stephen the Great, whose independence   Population        Ranked 78th
ended when it came under Austrian and   Ê- Total (2000)   10,106,017
Ottoman control in the 16th century,    Ê- Density        109/km²
with Austria conquering all of Hungary  Independence      October 31, 1918
by the end of the 17th century.
                                        Currency          Forint
Under the Austrian Habsburg dynasty     Time zone         UTC +1
Hungary would eventually, in 1867,
become an autonomous part of the        National anthem   Isten ‡ldd meg a
                                                          magyart
Austro-Hungarian Empire, until its
collapse following World War I. Hungary Internet TLD      .HU
declared its full independence on       Calling Code      36
October 31, 1918, though it lost most
of its former territory and population to neighbouring nations. Internal and
external conflicts ended with the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, after which
Hungary became a kingdom without a king under the conservative regency of
Mikl--s Horthy, leading to Hungary's alliance with Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

The country fell under communist rule following World War II. In 1956, a
revolt and announced withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact were met with a
military intervention by the Soviet Union and the deposition and execution
of prime minister Imre Nagy. In the late 1980s, Hungary led the movement to
dissolve the Warsaw Pact and shifted toward multiparty democracy and a
market-oriented economy. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991,
Hungary developed closer ties with Western Europe, joined NATO in 1999 and
will join the European Union on May 1, 2004.

Politics

The President of the Republic, elected by the parliament every 5 years, has
a largely ceremonial role, but powers also include appointing the prime
minister. The prime minister selects cabinet ministers and has the exclusive
right to dismiss them. Each cabinet nominee appears before one or more
parliamentary committees in consultative open hearings and must be formally
approved by the president.

The unicameral, 386-member National Assembly (the Orsz‡ggyŸlŽs) is the
highest organ of state authority and initiates and approves legislation
sponsored by the prime minister. A party must win at least 5% of the
national vote to form a parliamentary faction. National parliamentary
elections are held every 4 years (the last was in April 2002). A 15-member
Constitutional Court has power to challenge legislation on grounds of
unconstitutionality.

Counties

Hungary is subdivided administratively into 40 regions. Of these, 19 are
counties (megyŽk, singular - megye) and 20 are so-called urban counties
(singular - megyei v‡ros), in addition to which there is one capital city
(f?v‡ros): Budapest. The other 39 are:

    Urban counties               Counties
   * BŽkŽscsaba           * B‡cs-Kiskun
   * Debrecen             * Baranya
   * Dunaœjv‡ros          * BŽkŽs
   * Eger                 * Borsod-Abaœj-ZemplŽn
   * Gy?r                 * Csongr‡d
   * H--dmez?v‡s‡rhely     * FejŽr
   * Kaposv‡r             * Gy?r-Moson-Sopron
   * KecskemŽt            * Hajdœ-Bihar
   * Miskolc              * Heves
   * Nagykanizsa          * J‡sz-Nagykun-Szolnok
   * Ny'regyh‡za          * Kom‡rom-Esztergom
   * PŽcs                 * N--gr‡d
   * Sopron               * Pest
   * Szeged               * Somogy
   * SzŽkesfehŽrv‡r       * Szabolcs-Szatm‡r-Bereg
   * Szolnok              * Tolna
   * Szombathely          * Vas
   * Tatab‡nya            * VeszprŽm
   * VeszprŽm             * Zala
   * Zalaegerszeg

Map

Geography

Hungary's landscape consist mostly of the flat to rolling plains of the
Carpathian Basin, with hills and lower mountains to the north along the
Slovakian border (highest point: the KŽkes at 1,014 m). Hungary is divided
in two by its main waterway, the Danube (Duna), other large rivers include
the Theiss (Tisza) and Dr‡va, while the western half contains Lake Balaton,
a major waterbody.

The local climate is temperate, with cold, cloudy, humid winters and warm
summers, and the relative isolation of the Carpathian Basin makes it
susceptible to droughts. Average annual temperature is 9.7¡ C.

Economy

Hungary continues to demonstrate strong economic growth and to work toward
accession to the European Union. The private sector accounts for over 80% of
GDP. Foreign ownership of and investment in Hungarian firms is widespread,
with cumulative foreign direct investment totaling more than $23 billion
since 1989. Hungarian sovereign debt was upgraded in 2000 to the
second-highest rating among all the Central European transition economies.
Inflation and unemployment - both priority concerns in 2001 - have declined
substantially. Economic reform measures such as health care reform, tax
reform, and local government financing have not yet been addressed by the
present government.

Demographics

Some 98% of the population speaks Hungarian, a Finno Ugric language
unrelated to any neighbouring language. Several ethnic minorities exist,
such as those of the Roma (4%), Germans (2.6%), Serbs (2%), Slovaks (0.8%)
and Romanians (0.7%), though most speak Hungarian. Several large Hungarian
minorities exist across the border in neighbouring countries, notably in
Slovakia, Romania (in Transylvania) and Serbia (in Vojvodina).

The largest religion in Hungary is Roman Catholicism (67.5%), with a sizable
Calvinist minority (20%). Other smaller denominations include Lutherans (5%)
and Jews (0.2%). The remainder adheres to very small religions or is unaffiliated.