Hungary: population and national composition

The largest part of the Hungarian population is the titular nation - the Hungarians. Their number equals about 93% of the total number of citizens of this country.

Hungarians

The Hungarian people (self-name - the Magyars) have an interesting history of their own formation. Linguists and archaeologists have come to the conclusion that the steppes of the Trans-Urals are the ancestral home of this nation. It was here that the eels wandered, from which the Khanty and Mansi then emerged (now they live in Western Siberia).

Magyar pushed the West to the lack of resources. As it happened several times (and will be back in the Middle Ages), the wild east "shot" hordes in the direction of Europe. Hungary, whose population is the descendants of such nomads, already suffered from invasions.

At first the Hungarians settled in the Black Sea steppes of present-day Ukraine, and at the end of the IX century went to Transylvania. Their leader at this time was the legendary prince Arpad. Members of his dynasty ruled the Hungarians until the XIV century.

The Magyars found themselves in their present homeland, from where they expelled the former inhabitants - Slavs and Avars. Soon the nomads adapted to the new conditions of existence, adopted the customs of neighbors and began to lead a sedentary lifestyle. Nevertheless, this warlike nation continued to frighten neighboring countries for a long time until it became Catholic. The population of Hungary began to grow thanks to the acquisition of stability and relative calm.

Population of Austria-Hungary

In the late Middle Ages, Hungarians were dependent on Austria. Her rulers of Habsburg, with the help of dynastic marriages, united several national states into an empire that existed until 1918. The population of Austria-Hungary long struggled for their own rights and the preservation of national traditions. German dominance was greatly shaken after the 1848 revolution. Then, to suppress Hungarian speeches, the Russian Emperor Nicholas I sent troops to the aid of the Habsburgs. Independence was not received, but a few decades later a twofold monarchy was formed. Hungarians and Austrians received the same rights in domestic politics. This led to the growth of national self-awareness, the popularization of the language, and so on.

National Features

The territory of modern Hungary (93 thousand square kilometers) does not correspond to the area of settlement of this nation. So, for example, Romania in the XX century received Transylvania, in which many descendants of the Magyars live. Long-term existence under the rule of strangers did not prevent people from preserving their identity. Hungarian is very different from neighboring dialects (Germanic and Slavic group). Germans, for example, it seems gibberish. This language has much in common with the languages of the Finns, Estonians, Khanty and Mansi. With the adoption of Christianity, the inhabitants of the country adopted the Latin alphabet with some of its own peculiarities.

Hungary, whose population is fairly homogeneous, occupied the second place in the Habsburg empire. This was fixed officially after numerous revolutions and conflicts of the XIX century. Even the state received the name of Austria-Hungary, which emphasized the status of these two peoples, while other minorities (Czechs, Serbs, Bosnians, etc.) seemed to be on the sidelines.

Capital

Thanks to the privileges, Hungary developed rapidly. The population had a high literacy rate. Its capital, Budapest, became a special pride of the nation. Until the nineteenth century, in the minds of a European land east of Vienna seemed wild. This stereotype was destroyed after Budapest appeared. Hungary for a long time did not have a normal capital because of the invasion of the Turks and poor infrastructure development.

However, the new city, formed in 1873 after the confluence of Buda and Pest, became a real metropolis of that era. It was the cultural center of the nation, which soon gained independence after the horrors of the First World War. Today in Budapest, there are 1.7 million people (this is the seventh largest city in Europe). Here there was the first underground after London.

Other cities

Other major states of the country are Debrecen, Miskolc, Pecs, Szeged. Their population has similar to the capital confessional and national proportions. The number of residents varies from 100 to 200 thousand. The population density map clearly shows that it is evenly distributed throughout the country.

Minorities

Hungary, whose population was formed after numerous historical upheavals, has also significant national minorities. These are Gypsies, Germans, Jews, Slovaks, Romanians, Serbs, etc. In total they make up about 10% of the total number of inhabitants.

This is explained by the shadow of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, in which the cauldron of national contradictions was seething. Many people were assimilated by force.

The largest religious group is Catholics (this is roughly one in every two inhabitants of the country according to sociological surveys). The presence of the Calvinists (about 15%), which appeared in the country after the European Reformation, is also noticeable.

Jewish communities prefer Budapest. Hungary was a quiet haven for this people. In the neighboring Russian empire in the XIX century, anti-Semitic policies (the Pale of Settlement, etc.) were conducted, which led many Jews to emigrate to the Danube. The Jewish community suffered greatly after the Holocaust. Also, many left for Israel after the formation of this state in the Middle East.

In 1993, Hungary passed a law on ethnic minorities. He enshrined all sorts of rights. The initiative was adopted after the fall of the communist system, which was characteristic of all the countries of Central Europe, caught in the orbit of the influence of the Soviet Union.