Historical turn in Hungarian migration trends

A decade-long migration trend was reversed last year when the number of Hungarian citizens returning to the country exceeded the number of Hungarians who emigrated. Some signs suggested this turn in Hungarian emigration as early as in 2018.

Vg reported that according to the data of the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (abbreviated KSH in Hungarian),

23,200 Hungarian-born citizens returned, while a total of 21,900 left the country.

The number of people leaving Hungary has been declining for four years, causing a slight tilt in the international migration balance. This trend was accompanied by an increase in the number of people returning to Hungary. According to the CSO, the peak of emigration occurred in 2015, when almost 33,000 Hungarians moved abroad.

Last year, 10,100 Hungarian citizens who were born abroad repatriated, which shows a decrease compared to previous years’ data. This means that a total of 33,300 people returned to Hungary in 2019.

As far as the Hungarian migration trends of the last few decades go, there was a sharp peak in emigration after the collapse of Communism, but it decreased significantly in the mid-1990s, and many emigrants from previous emigration periods returned to Hungary. In the early 2000s, emigration started to increase again, gaining momentum after Hungary’s accession to the European Union in 2004.

Portfolio added that, interestingly, the 2018 data was significantly modified compared to last year’s first release. Previously, the CSO reported 18,150 emigrants and 20,000 returning Hungarians, but both figures were similarly adjusted to 23,800 and 23,400. This indicates that