Profile of Hungary
Hungary (Hung., Magyarország), republic, in Central Europe, bounded on the north by Slovakia; on the northeast by Ukraine; on the east by Romania; on the south by Serbia (part of the federation of Serbia and Montenegro), Croatia, and Slovenia; and on the west by Austria. The total area of Hungary is 93,030 sq km (35,919 sq mi).
Hungary is somewhat oval in shape, with an extreme length from east to west of about 528 km (328 mi) and a maximum width of about 267 km (166 mi). The capital and largest city is Budapest.
Land and Resources
Hungary is predominantly flat. The River Danube, which forms part of the Slovakian-Hungarian border from near Bratislava to near Esztergom, turns abruptly south, dividing Hungary into two general regions. A low, rolling plain known as the Danube Alföld, also called the Great Alföld or Great Hungarian Plain, covers most of the region east of the Danube extending east to Romania and south to Serbia. Highlands along the northern border of the country extend eastwards from the gorge of the Danube at Esztergom and include the Bükk and Mátra mountains. Mount Kékes (1,015 m/3,330 ft), in the Mátra Mountains, is the highest peak in Hungary. The area west of the Danube, known as Transdanubia, presents a variety of land forms. In the south rise the isolated Mecsek Mountains. In the north are the Bakony Mountains, which overlook Lake Balaton, the largest freshwater lake in central Europe. The Little Alföld, or Little Plain, in the extreme northwestern section of Hungary, extends into southern Slovakia.
Climate
Hungary has a relatively dry continental climate, with cold winters and warm summers. Average temperatures range from -1.1° C (30° F) in January to 21.1° C (70° F) in July. Rainfall is heaviest in early summer, and the average amount decreases from 787 mm (31 in) along the western frontier to 508 mm (20 in) in the east.
Plants and Animals
Approximately 18 per cent of Hungary is forested, mostly with oak, lime, beech, and other deciduous trees in the Transdanubian lands and mountains. Hare, fox, deer, and boar are abundant. Duck, heron, crane, and stork are indigenous to the country, and the Great Hungarian Plain, which is mostly steppe, is a haven for many migrating species.
Soils
The alluvial soils of the Great Hungarian Plain are highly fertile, although inferior to the black earth in the southeastern and southern plain extending into Romania and Serbia and Croatia. Soils in the northern highland river basins are generally fertile, but in much of Hungary the soil is of a loose type, called loess, or sandy.
Natural Resources
The main resource of Hungary is the rich black soil of its farmlands. The country has some deposits of bauxite, coal, oil, natural gas, manganese, uranium, lignite, and iron ore. Reserves of most minerals are small, however, and the iron ore and hard coal are of low quality.
Population
About 97 per cent of the Hungarian people are Magyars, descendants of Finno-Ugric and Turkish tribes who mingled with Avar and Slavic tribes in Hungary in the 9th century AD. Ethnic minorities of the country include Germans, Slovaks, Serbs, Croats, Gypsies, and Romanians.
Population Characteristics
Hungary has a population (1995 official estimate) of 10,471,000. The overall population density is about 113 persons per sq km (292 per sq mi). The population is about two-thirds urban. Life expectancy in 1991. was 69 years.
Political Divisions
For administrative purposes Hungary is divided into one county borough (city with county rank), Budapest, and 19 counties, which are subdivided into districts. The 19 counties are Bács-Kiskun, Baranya, Békés, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Csongrád, Fejér, Györ-Moson-Sopron, Hajdú-Bihar, Heves, Komárom-Esztergom, Nógrád, Pest, Somogy, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg, Szolnok, Tolna, Vas, Veszprém, Zala, and Jäsz-Nagykún-Szolnok.
Principal Cities
Budapest, the largest city, with a population (1991 estimate) of 2,016,995, is the capital and also the cultural and economic centre of Hungary; its many industries include shipbuilding and metalworking. Other major cities, with their estimated 1991 populations, are Debrecen (215,032), the trading centre of a major agricultural region; Miskolc (193,194), the location of iron-and-steel and other metallurgical industries; Szeged (176,907), a shipping centre for the agricultural products of the Great Hungarian Plain, also noted for its chemical and synthetic-textile industries; and Pécs (170,283), home of small manufacturing industries.
Religion
Hungary is traditionally a Roman Catholic country with a large Protestant minority. During the Communist period, from the 1940s to the late 1980s, religious bodies were separated from the state; however, the State Office for Church Affairs exercised control over them. Moreover, the Communist regime dissolved most religious orders and seized the properties of the monasteries. About two-thirds of the population is Roman Catholic and about one-quarter is Protestant, the chief Protestant groups being the Hungarian Calvinist Reformed church and the Hungarian Lutheran church. The Jewish community numbered around 100,000 in 1991.
Language
Magyar, a Finno-Ugric language written in Latin characters and influenced by borrowings from the Turkish, Slavic, German, Latin, and French languages, is the official Hungarian language, universally spoken in Hungary. Many inhabitants also speak German and, increasingly, English, and, since World War II, many understand Russian, but are resistant to speaking it.
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