Regions

• Budapest and surroundings
• Lake Balaton
• Northwest Hungary
• Southwest Hungary
• East Hungary

Budapest city guide

Basic Facts Hungary

• Official name: Republic of Hungary
• Form of state: Republic
• Location: Central Europe
• Area: 93 030 km²
• Population: 10 375 000
• Capital of Hungary: Budapest with 2 Million inhabitants
• Local time: Local time is GMT +1 (GMT +2 between the last Sunday in March and the Saturday before the last Sunday in October).
• Language: Hungarian (Magyar)
• Administrative division:Budapest and 19 counties
• Climate:Continental
• Currency:Forint (HUF)
• International phone code:+36 for Hungary; +36 1 for Budapest
• Electricity: Electrical current is 230 volts, 50 Hz. European-style two-pin plugs are standard.

Land, economy

Hungary's area is 93,000 sq km's with a population of 10 Million. The capital of the country is Budapest and the notion of a large city. 90% of the population are hungarien. Major minoritities include Romas, Germans, Slovaks and Romanians.

The official language of the country is Hungarian, but lot of Hungarians speak English and/or German. Most of the religious people are Roman Catholic, about a quarter are Reformed (Calvinist) and less than 10% are Evangelical (Lutheran), 5% belonging to other religions. The Hungarian state is a parliamentary democracy. Present (this) government was elected in May, 2006.

Hungary has been a member of the European Union since 2004. The country's major industries are mining, metallurgy & agriculture, construction materials, processed foods, textiles, chemicals (especially pharmaceuticals) and motor vehicles. Major trading partners are Germany, Austria, Italy and Russia. Economic growth is above 4% for the past years mainly due to the dynamic expansion of export as a result of the EU-accession.

Population

There are 3200 settlements in Hungary; the population density is 110 people per sq km. Almost five million Magyars live outside the national borders, mostly as a result of the Trianon Treaty, WWII and the 1956 Uprising. The estimated 1.65 million Hungarians in Transylvania (now Romania) constitute the largest ethnic minority in Europe, and there are another 600.000 Magyars in Slovakia, 350.000 in Serbia, 180.000 in Ukraine and 35.000 in Austria. Hungarian immigrants to the USA, Canada, Australia and Israel add up to more than half a million.

Holidays

National holidays/ non-working days

15 March - Memory of the Revolution in 1848
1 May - Celebrity of the Work
20 August - Saint Stephen's Day
23 October - National Celebrity

Christian holidays

1 January - New Year
Easter Monday
Whit Monday
1 November - All Sanint's Day
25-26 December - Christmas