Land use: arable land 54%; permanent crops 3%; meadows and pastures
14%; forest and woodland 18%; other 11%; includes irrigated 2%
Environment: levees are common along many streams, but flooding
occurs almost every year
Note: landlocked; strategic location astride main land routes
between Western Europe and Balkan Peninsula as well as between USSR and
Mediterranean basin
PEOPLE
Population: 10,558,001 (July 1991), growth rate - 0.1% (1991)
Birth rate: 12 births/1,000 population (1991)
Death rate: 13 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
Infant mortality rate: 14 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
Life expectancy at birth: 68 years male, 76 years female (1991)
Total fertility rate: 1.8 children born/woman (1991)
Ethnic divisions: Hungarian 96.6%, German 1.6%, Slovak 1.1%,
Southern Slav 0.3%, Romanian 0.2%
Religion: Roman Catholic 67.5%, Calvinist 20.0%, Lutheran 5.0%,
atheist and other 7.5%
Language: Hungarian 98.2%, other 1.8%
Literacy: 99% (male 99%, female 98%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1980)
Labor force: 4,860,000; services, trade, government, and other
43.2%, industry 30.9%, agriculture 18.8%, construction 7.1% (1988)
Organized labor: 96.5% of labor force; Central Council of Hungarian
Trade Unions (SZOT) includes 19 affiliated unions, all controlled by the
government; independent unions legal; may be as many as 12 small
independent unions in operation
GOVERNMENT
Long-form name: Republic of Hungary
Type: republic
Capital: Budapest
Administrative divisions: 19 counties (megyek, singular--megye)
and 1 capital city* (fovaros); Bacs-Kiskun, Baranya, Bekes,
Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen, Budapest*, Csongrad, Fejer,
Gyor-Moson-Sopron, Hajdu-Bihar, Heves, Jasz-Nagykun-Szolnok,
Komarom-Esztergom, Nograd, Pest, Somogy, Szabolcs-Szatmar-Bereg,
Tolna, Vas, Veszprem, Zala
Independence: 1001, unification by King Stephen I
Constitution: 18 August 1949, effective 20 August 1949, revised
19 April 1972; 18 October 1989 revision ensures legal rights for
individuals and constitutional checks on the authority of the prime
minister and established the principle of parliamentary oversight
Legal system: in process of revision, moving toward rule of law
based on Western model
National holiday: October 23 (1956); commemorates the Hungarian
uprising
Executive branch: president, prime minister
Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly
(Orszaggyules)
Judicial branch: Supreme Court, may be restructured as part of
ongoing government overhaul
Leaders:
Chief of State--President Arpad GONCZ (since 3 August 1990;
previously interim President from 2 May 1990);
Head of Government--Prime Minister Jozsef ANTALL
(since 23 May 1990)
Political parties and leaders:
Democratic Forum, Jozsef ANTALL, chairman;
Free Democrats, Janos KIS, chairman;
Independent Smallholders, Ferenc Jozsef NAGY, president;
Hungarian Socialist Party (MSP), Gyula HORN, chairman;
Young Democrats, Gabor FODOR, head;
Christian Democrats, Dr. Lazlo SURJAN, president;
note--the Hungarian Socialist (Communist) Workers' Party (MSZMP)
renounced Communism and became the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSP) in
October 1989
Suffrage: universal at age 18
Elections:
President last held 3 August 1990 (next to be held August 1995);
elected by the National Assembly with a total of 294 votes out of 304;
President GONCZ was elected by the National Assembly as interim President
from 2 May 1990 until elected President;
National Assembly--last held on 25 March 1990 (first round, with
the second round held 8 April 1990);
results--percent of vote by party NA;
seats--(394 total) Democratic Forum 165, Free Democrats 92,
Independent Smallholders 43, Hungarian Socialist Party (MSP) 33,
Young Democrats 21, Christian Democrats 21, independent candidates
or jointly sponsored candidates 19
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador (vacant);
Chancery at 3910 Shoemaker Street NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone
(202) 362-6730; there is a Hungarian Consulate General in New York;
US--Ambassador Charles THOMAS; Embassy at V. Szabadsag
Ter 12, Budapest (mailing address is APO New York 09213); telephone 36
(1) 112-6450
Flag: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and green
ECONOMY
Overview: Agriculture is an important sector, providing sizable
export earnings and meeting domestic food needs. Industry accounts for
about 40% of GNP and 30% of employment. About 40% of Hungary's foreign
trade is with the USSR and Eastern Europe and a third is with the EC.
Low rates of growth reflect the inability of the Soviet-style economy to
modernize capital plant and motivate workers. GNP declined by 1% in 1989
and by an estimated 6% in 1990. Since 1985 external debt has more than
doubled, to over $20 billion. In recent years Hungary has experimented
widely with decentralized and market-oriented enterprises. The newly
democratic government has renounced the Soviet economic growth model and
plans to open the economy to wider market forces and to much closer
economic relations with Western Europe. Prime Minister Antall has
declared his intention to move foward on privatization of state
enterprises, provision for bankruptcy, land reform, and marketization of
international trade, but concerns over acceptable levels of unemployment
and inflation may slow the reform process.
GNP: $60.9 billion, per capita $5,800; real growth rate - 5.7%
(1990 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 30% (1990 est.)
Unemployment rate: 1.7% (1990)
Budget: revenues $18.2 billion; expenditures $18.3 billion,
including capital expenditures of $805 million (1989)
Agriculture: including forestry, accounts for about 15% of GNP
and 19% of employment; highly diversified crop-livestock farming;
principal crops--wheat, corn, sunflowers, potatoes, sugar beets;
livestock--hogs, cattle, poultry, dairy products; self-sufficient in
food output
Economic aid: donor--$2.0 billion in bilateral aid to non-Communist
less developed countries (1962-89)
COMMUNICATIONS
Railroads: 7,765 km total; 7,508 km 1.435-meter standard gauge,
222 km narrow gauge (mostly 0.760-meter), 35 km 1.520-meter broad gauge;
1,147 km double track, 2,161 km electrified; all government owned (1988)
Highways: 130,014 km total; 29,715 km national highway
system--26,834 km asphalt and bitumen, 142 km concrete, 51 km stone and
road brick, 2,276 km macadam, 412 km unpaved; 58,495 km country roads
(66% unpaved), and 41,804 km (est.) other roads (70% unpaved) (1988)
Ports: Budapest and Dunaujvaros are river ports on the Danube;
maritime outlets are Rostock (Germany), Gdansk (Poland), Gdynia (Poland),
Szczecin (Poland), Galati (Romania), and Braila (Romania)
Merchant marine: 16 cargo ships (1,000 GRT or over) and 1 bulk
totaling 94,393 GRT/131,946 DWT
Civil air: 28 major transport aircraft
Airports: 90 total, 90 usable; 20 with permanent-surface runways;
2 with runways over 3,659 m; 10 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 15 with
runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: telephone density is at 17 per 100 inhabitants;
49% of all phones are in Budapest; 12-15 year wait for a phone; 16,000
telex lines (June 1990); stations--13 AM, 12 FM, 21 TV (8 Soviet
TV relays); 4.2 TVs (1990)
DEFENSE FORCES
Branches: Ground Forces, Air and Air Defense Forces, Frontier
Guard, Civil Defense
Manpower availability: males 15-49, 2,667,234; 2,130,749 fit for
military service; 88,851 reach military age (18) annually
Defense expenditures: 43.7 billion forints, NA% of GDP (1989);
note--conversion of defense expenditures into US dollars using the
official administratively set exchange rate would produce misleading
results
