Emigration: where are Hungarians going? These are their target countries
Once again, more and more Hungarians are emigrating from Hungary. The Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) has now published the countries to which people are going. Let’s take a look at the places that Hungarians choose as their new home.
More and more Hungarians are leaving Hungary
Last year, more Hungarians left the country than before. According to data just released by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, 44 percent of Hungarians who emigrated chose Austria, 25 percent Germany, 5-5 percent the Netherlands and Switzerland, and 4 percent the UK as their new home, Portfolio writes.
The United Kingdom used to be a key destination for people moving out of Hungary. While the number of migrants to the UK has fallen year on year, the number of migrants to Germany has increased slightly. When it comes to Austria, the number of migrants has increased significantly compared to the previous year, the KSH report highlighted.
The reversal of a positive trend
Back in April, Portfolio reported that 26,500 Hungarian citizens emigrated abroad last year. The last time we saw a higher number was in 2017, based on preliminary data from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office. This reverses the positive trend of 2021, when more people returned home than left Hungary. The good news is that the migration gap has not worsened significantly, with considerably more foreign-born Hungarians moving to Hungary than in previous years.
The last time we saw higher emigration was in 2017.
This breaks an important positive trend, as the balance between returnees and recent emigrants has gradually improved in recent years. In 2021, more people returned home than decided to emigrate, after a long period of time. Last year, however, for 21,900 returnees, there were 26,500 emigrants, a reversal of the trend.
The good news is that the overall balance of international migration of Hungarian citizens has still barely deteriorated, from a surplus of 96,702 in 2021 to 94,450. This was due to the fact that 14,000 more Hungarians born abroad moved to the country than before. This is the highest number we have seen in this indicator since 2015, Portfolio concludes.
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