Facts about Hungary |
|---|
| Continent | Europe |
| Lat Long | 47 00 N, 20 00 E |
| Area | 35,919 sq mi (93,030 km2) |
| Population | 9,897,541 (July 2015 est.) |
| Capital | Budapest |
| Largest City | Budapest |
| Official Languages | Hungarian |
| Major Religion | Roman Catholic 37.2%, Calvinist 11.6%, Lutheran 2.2%, Greek Catholic 1.8%, other 1.9%, none 18.2%, unspecified 27.2% (2011 est.) |
| National Day | Saint Stephen’s Day, 20 August |
| Form of Government | Parliamentary republic |
| President | Janos Ader |
| Prime Minister | Viktor Orban |
| Currency | Forint (HUF) |
| GDP | $225.285 billion (2015 estimate) |
| Calling Code | 36 |
| Time Zone | CET (UTC+1)Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2) |
| Internet TLD | .hu |
What is the capital of Hungary ?
The capital of Hungary is
Budapest
, which in the modern day is consistently ranked among the most beautiful and livable cities on the European continent. Budapest is the center of Hungary’s burgeoning tourist industry, and it sees more tourists every year than the number of people actually living within it!
What is the total population of Hungary ?
Hungary is home to nearly
10 million people
, about a third of whom live in Budapest or in one of its extensive suburbs. Due to the many border changes that have taken place in Central Europe, there are also several million ethnic Hungarians that live in neighboring countries.
What languages are spoken in Hungary ?
The overwhelming majority of Hungarians speak the Hungarian language, as do millions of ethnic Hungarians living elsewhere, making it one of the most widespread non-Indo-European languages on the continent. Interestingly, Hungarian is not closely related to the languages of surrounding countries and has more in common with the Finnish and Estonian languages. There are also many wild theories about the roots of the Hungarian language, including a well-known hypothesis that it is descended from ancient Sumerian (although most scholars doubt this).
What is the national religion in Hungary ?
Hungary does not have an official religion, but the majority of the population (around 75%) is Christian in some form, the majority of those being Roman Catholics. Many of the rest are not religiously affiliated. There was once a sizable population of Jewish people in Hungary, but most of them were driven off or killed during the Holocaust in the mid-twentieth century. Today, a much smaller community of Jews remains religiously active in Budapest.
What countries border Hungary ?
Present-day Hungary is bordered by Austria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine. It is a land-locked country but occupies a strategically important region of relatively flat land straddling the more mountainous regions of Central Europe.
How big is Hungary ?
Hungary takes up an estimated 93,030 square kilometers (or about 35,920 square miles), which all told is a bit smaller than the U.S. state of Indiana. Hungary once took up much more territory, including some Mediterranean coastline, back when it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
What was the Austro-Hungarian Empire ?
The Austro-Hungarian Empire, sometimes simply referred to as Austria-Hungary, was a dual monarchy that reigned over a large area in Central Europe for more than 50 years. It was formed in 1867 when the royal family that ruled the Austrian Empire, the Habsburgs, agreed to share sovereignty equally with a separate Hungarian state (this was done to pacify Hungarian nationalism within the Austrian Empire, as the Habsburgs’ power had been weakening). Although originally intended as a temporary compromise, the dual kingdoms together formed a major power in Central Europe and ruled for the next half-century. This empire was eventually toppled during World War I, and the nation of Hungary was not able to get back on its feet again before being occupied by the German Nazis and later by Soviet forces. Despite attempts to break free from Soviet rule (most famously during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution), Hungary would not be a sovereign state again until 1989.
What was the 1956 Hungarian Revolution ?
The Hungarian Revolution was an incident in Soviet-controlled Hungary during which demonstrators briefly overthrew the communist government and, against all odds, nearly established a democratic republic. The movement was quickly and brutally put down by Stalinist troops invading from Russia, but has since become an event of historical importance and a point of pride for Hungarian citizens. At the time it occurred, 1956, Western countries like the United States were wrapped up in the Suez Crisis and decided not to intervene when the U.S.S.R. moved to crush the Hungarian rebels. In retrospect, it is seen to have had a multifaceted outcome, solidifying Stalin’s hold on Central Europe while simultaneously stirring doubts in the minds of Communist followers worldwide.
What is the current form of government in Hungary ?
Today, Hungary is a fully-functioning parliamentary republic. It was one of the first states in the Soviet Bloc to peacefully break away from the U.S.S.R. during the Cold War thaw in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Unlike with the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, there was no violence in the transition, and the new republic was able to orient itself within a few years. Hungary’s change in governmental and economic structures is considered to be one of the earliest cracks in the Iron Curtain, and led the way for many other countries to do the same.