Majority of foreigners in Hungary from Europe

Budapest, July 7 (MTI) – There are currently 146,000 foreign nationals living in Hungary, over 100,000 of whom are European, daily Napi Gazdasag said on Tuesday.

The peak of 206,000 foreign nationals was registered in 2011. Many have since obtained Hungarian citizenship, the paper said, citing data by the Central Statistical Office.

There are far fewer Romanian, Ukrainian or Serbian passport-holders thanks to Hungary’s fast-track citizenship regime for ethnic Hungarians beyond the border.

At the same time, the number of German, Slovak, Austrian and Russian citizens has been expanding fast, the paper said.

Over the past ten years the number of foreigners from Asia has doubled to 33,000, of whom 16,000 were Chinese, it said, adding that the number of foreign citizens coming from a North African Arab states and Sub Saharan Africa has more than tripled in the period to nearly 5,000.

Budapest has the largest community of foreign citizens, whereas small towns and villages in Baranya and Somogy counties in southern Hungary are popular among the Dutch.

The spa town of Heviz near Lake Balaton in western Hungary has drawn many Russian citizens who have purchased hundreds of properties, including hotels in the area, the paper said.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters