Some hard facts taken from British Embassy website
·:*¨`*:·~My§ticÄl~·:*¨`
GENERAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON HUNGARY
AREA AND GEOGRAPHY
Hungary is a land-locked country located at the heart of Europe.
It occupies an area of 36,340 square miles (a little over one-third
the size of the United Kingdom). It is bordered by seven countries:
Slovakia to the North; the Ukraine and Romania to the East; Serbia,
Croatia and Slovenia to the South, and Austria to the West. Hungary
lies in the Carpathian Basin and is blessed with extensive low-lying,
fertile plains (the Great Hungarian Plain), and with hilly regions
in the North and West.
POPULATION
Hungary has a stable population of around 10.1 million (April 2004).
62% of Hungarians live in urban areas. Budapest, the political,
administrative and commercial capital has just over 2 million inhabitants,
and is by far the largest city in Hungary. Other main centres of population
include Miskolc (196,000), Szeged (175,000), Pécs (170,000), Debrecen
(212,000) and Győr (129,000).
POLITICAL
Hungary is a constitutional Republic with a pluralist democratic
parliamentary government. From 1948 until 1989 Hungary was
part of the former communist Soviet bloc. The communist party’s
dominant position was ended peacefully in October 1989.
Free elections were held in March 1990, which resulted in a coalition
Government, headed by the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF).
The main opposition parties were the Alliance of Free Democrats
(SZDSZ), the Alliance of Young Democrats (FIDESZ) and the Hungarian
Socialist Party (MSZP).
Since the 1990 elections every elected Government has seen
through its 4-year term of office, but on each occasion there has
been a change of party in power, always in a coalition government.
The Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) won the May 1994 election,
the Young Democrats (FIDESZ) won the 1998 election.
The most recent election in April 2002 resulted in a win by the
Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) with a very narrow majority and
they formed a coalition with the Alliance of Free Democrats.
Following a Government reshuffle and internal party manouvering
over the summer of 2004 a new Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany
(in his early 40s, a businessman by profession and former Minister
of Sport), was sworn in along with a new Cabinet on 4 October.
This government, as with all political parties in Hungary, is a
committed EU partner - Hungary joined on 1 May 2004. The current
government has cited 2010 as their target for joining the Euro Zone.
Hungary joined NATO in March 1999.
ECONOMIC
Some headline figures:
• Hungary's GDP per capita is approx. Euro 7,2334 (2003),
although at purchasing power parity the figure is some 50% higher.
• Over the last 5 years, Hungary had one of the highest GDP growth
rates in Europe at 2.9% for 2003, with 4.0% in the second quarter of 2004.
• Unemployment is running at around 6.1% (September 2004).
• Inflation averaged 7.2% in August 2004, is predicted at 7.0% for
the rest of the year, and to fall to 4-5% in 2005. It is generally on a
continuous downward trend (9.2% in 2001).
• The foreign debt, having been the highest in Central Europe in the
mid-1990s has now fallen below $20bn. The Government has a record
of managing the debt skilfully and the country's credit rating is relatively
good. Hungary has never requested a rescheduling of its debt.
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