Is migration a real issue in Hungary?

Since the refugee crisis of 2015, the issue of migrants has been a constant topic in both the international and Hungarian press. According to the Central Statistical Office (KSH), 200,000 foreigners stayed in Hungary last year. However, this figure is biased and does not show the real number of refugees.

The Hungarian government has often come into conflict with the European Union in recent years. The conflict was often caused by the refugee situation. According to the data of the Central Statistical Office, in 2020, 200,000 foreigners stayed in Hungary. However, this number is not the same as the number of refugees.

Between 2015 and 2020, a total of 2,788 refugees came to Hungary.

Of the 200,000 people, Gazdaságkutató Zrt. estimated that 110,000 people received Hungarian citizenship after the simplified naturalisation procedure last year. This is also supported by the fact that in the last 10 years, the number of Romanians living in Hungary has decreased by 50,000 and the number of Serbian citizens has decreased by 12,000, writes napi.hu.

About 20,000 foreigners received Hungarian citizenship thanks to a settlement bond. Almost half of the foreigners (40 per cent) living in Hungary are EU citizens. The other 60 per cent are from third countries. Examined by country, most people came from Ukraine, Romania, China, and Germany.

In Hungary, the proportion of foreign citizens was 2 per cent.

This is far below the EU average of 8%. In contrast, the proportion of emigrants is 5 per cent of the population. This is slightly higher than the EU average of 3 per cent. In terms of the labour market, we can distinguish two groups. One is the group of registered foreign workers and the other is the group of foreign workers with a valid work permit. The registered worker is typically a guest worker from the European Union, while a work permit is required from guest workers from any country outside the EU.

In 2018, 2 per cent of all employees were foreigners.

At the time, the proportion of foreign workers was the highest in Hungary. In general, those from Western Europe work as managers, while citizens of Eastern European countries perform manual work. According to the napi.hu forecast, the number of employees from Asia can increase in the future. The deteriorating situation in Afghanistan could trigger another wave of migration, writes mandiner.hu.

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Source: napi.hu, mandiner.hu