Hungarian population smaller than ever in the Carpathian Basin

The Hungarian population in the Carpathian Basin fell below 11.5 million. The Hungarian diaspora in neighbouring countries is now smaller than 1.8 million.

For the first time, the Hungarian resident population of the Carpathian Basin has fallen below 11.5 million. The number of Hungarians living outside the borders shrank to 1.8 million, according to aggregated census data from Hungary and neighbouring countries from Válasz Online.

Hungary’s population was 9 million 604 thousand at the end of the 2022 census last October. However, that number also included foreigners living in Hungary. To get a better picture of the Hungarian population living in the Carpathian Basin, Válasz Online collected the latest available data from neighbouring countries.

Read alsoMore than 126,000 students apply for university places in Hungary

Although the population in Hungary continues to shrink, we are not alone in this regard. 4 of our 7 neighbours are reporting population loss. The most significant of them are Romania and Serbia.

The latest numbers from our neighbours

For the first time ever, the population fell below 20 million in Romania. The number of ethnic Hungarians decreased by 200.000 since 2011. The change is not only explained by the fact that Hungarians living outside Hungary have returned to Hungary, but also by the fact that some of them have moved to Western Europe.

But there are still over 1 million Hungarians living in Romania. Due to the overall population loss of the country, the proportion of the Hungarian population did not deteriorate compared to the previous census.

Interestingly, compared to 2011, not much has changed in Slovakia. While the number of Hungarian speakers fell from 508,000 to 462,000, the number of those who identify themselves as Hungarian has barely changed. The Hungarian population was only 1,000 fewer than in 2011, according to the latest Slovakian data from 2021.

Read alsoVisa reform: non-EU citizens will have to pay, get new authorisation to enter Hungary

The number of Hungarians living in Serbia fell drastically, by 60-70 thousand in the last 10 years. Less than 200 thousand Hungarians are living in the northernmost part of Serbia. In Croatia, the number of Hungarians fell from 14 thousand to 10 thousand, while in Slovenia according to Attila Kovács from the Institute for Ethnic Studies in Slovenia, less than 4000 Hungarians live in the country compared to 4800 in 2011.

It is hard to define the number of Hungarians living in Ukraine due to the war. In 2017 there were less than 130 thousand Hungarians living in Transcarpathia, but many of them emigrated to Hungary after Russia’s invasion.

Austria is also in a particular position, where it is hard to distinguish the ethnic Hungarians from those, who recently moved for economic reasons. The number of ethnic Hungarians is estimated to be no more than a few thousand people.

Conclusion

Overall, according to Válasz Online’s calculation, the number of Hungarians living abroad has decreased from 2 million 706 thousand to roughly 1 million 821 thousand in the last 30 years. If we add that Hungary’s population reduced from 10 million 375 thousand to 9 million 604 thousand, we get that the number of Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin has decreased from 13 million 81 thousand to approximately 11 million 425 thousand.

Source: Válasz Online