Hungary country profile

27 August 2006
by eub2 -- last modified 04 January 2008

Formerly communist Hungary is one of the ten Eastern European countries that acceded to the European Union on 1 May 2004. Hungary is a landlocked state with many neighbours – Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria.

Magyar Köztársaság

Hungary is a landlocked state with many neighbours – Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria. It is mostly flat, with low mountains in the north. Lake Balaton, a popular tourist centre, is the largest lake in central Europe.

The ancestors of ethnic Hungarians were the Magyar tribes, who moved into the Carpathian Basin in 896, conquering the people already in the region. Hungary became a Christian kingdom under St Stephen in the year 1000. The Hungarian language is unlike the other neighbouring languages and is only distantly related to Finnish and Estonian.

The capital city, Budapest, which originally was two separate cities: Buda and Pest, straddles the River Danube. It is rich in history and culture and famed for its curative springs. Hungary has a single-chamber parliament or national assembly whose 386 members are elected by voters every four years.

Hungary has some limited natural resources (bauxite, coal, and natural gas), as well as fertile soils and arable land. Hungarian wines are drunk throughout Europe. The country‘s main manufactured exports include machinery and transport equipment, foodstuffs and chemicals.

Hungary is a highly musical country whose traditional folk music inspired its great composers such as Liszt, Bartók and Kodály.

Area: 93 000 km²
Population: 10.08 million
Capital city: Budapest
Currency: 1 forint = 100 filler, 1 euro = 256 forint (HUF) (Dec. 2006)
National day: 15 March, 20 August, 23 October
EU-membership: 1 May 2004

Head of State: President László Sólyom
Head of Government: Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány
Foreign Minister: Kinga Göncz
Government: Governing parties:
MSzP (Socialist Party) Chairman: István Hiller; 186 deputies in the parliamentary group
SzDSz (Alliance of Free Democrats) Chairman: Gábor Kuncze; 18 deputies in the parliamentary group
Parliament: 386 members, elected in April 2006 for a term of 4 years

GDP: € 87.83 billion (2005)
GDP per capita in PPS: € 8 708 (2005)
Economic growth in real terms: + 4.1% (20054, rounded)

Links:
Head of State: http://www.keh.hu
Government: http://www.miniszterelnok.hu
Head of Government: http://www.meh.hu
Foreign Minister: http://www.mfa.gov.hu
Parliament: http://www.mkogy.hu

Map of Hungary

Source: European Commission, Slovenia EU Presidency