"In Hungary all native music, in its origin, is divided naturally into melody destined for song or melody for the dance."
Franz Liszt

Area: total: 93,030 sq km (slightly smaller than Indiana). Strategic location astride main land routes between Western Europe and Balkan Peninsula as well as between Ukraine and Mediterranean basin; the north-south flowing Duna (Danube) and Tisza Rivers divide the country into three large regions
Land boundaries: total: 2,185 km
Coastline: landlocked
Climate: temperate; cold, cloudy, humid winters; warm summers
Terrain: mostly flat to rolling plains; hills and low mountains on the Slovakian border
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Tisza River 78 m, highest point: Kekes 1,014 m
Natural resources: bauxite, coal, natural gas, fertile soils, arable land
Land use: arable land: 49.58%, permanent crops: 2.06%, other: 48.36% (2005); Irrigated land: 2,300 sq km (2003)
Environment - current issues: the upgrading of Hungary's standards in waste management, energy efficiency, and air, soil, and water pollution to meet EU requirements will require large investments
Population: 9,930,915 (July 2008 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 15.2% (male 774,092/female 730,485), 15-64 years: 69.3% (male 3,393,630/female 3,488,011), 65 years and over: 15.6% (male 559,483/female 985,214) (2008 est.). Median age: total: 39.1 years, male: 36.8 years, female: 41.8 years (2008 est.)
Population growth rate: -0.254% (2008 est.)
Birth rate: 9.59 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Death rate: 12.99 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Net migration rate: 0.86 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Sex ratio: 0.91 male(s)/female (2008 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 73.18 years, male: 69 years, female: 77.62 years (2008 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.34 children born/woman (2008 est.)
HIV/AIDS: 0.1% or 2,800 (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS deaths: fewer than 100 (2001 est.)
Ethnic groups: Hungarian 92.3%, Roma 1.9%, other or unknown 5.8% (2001 census)
Religions: Roman Catholic 51.9%, Calvinist 15.9%, Lutheran 3%, Greek Catholic 2.6%, other Christian 1%, other or unspecified 11.1%, unaffiliated 14.5% (2001 census)
Languages: Hungarian 93.6%, other or unspecified 6.4% (2001 census)
Literacy: 99.4%, male: 99.5%, female: 99.3% (2003 est.)
Education expenditures: 5.5% of GDP (2005)
Government type: parliamentary democracy
Capital: Budapest
Time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time); daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
Constitution: 18 August 1949, effective 20 August 1949; revised 19 April 1972; 18 October 1989 revision ensured legal rights for individuals and constitutional checks on the authority of the prime minister and also established the principle of parliamentary oversight; 1997 amendment streamlined the judicial system
Legal system: based on the German-Austrian legal system; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Economy - overview: Hungary has made the transition from a centrally planned to a market economy, with a per capita income nearly two-thirds that of the EU-25 average. The private sector accounts for more than 80% of GDP. Foreign ownership of and investment in Hungarian firms are widespread, with cumulative foreign direct investment totaling more than $60 billion since 1989. The government's IMF-mandated austerity measures, imposed since late 2006, have reduced the budget deficit from over 9% of GDP in 2006 to 3.3% in 2008. Hungary's impending inability to service its short-term debt - brought on by the global credit crunch in late 2008 - led Budapest to seek and receive an IMF-arranged financial assistance package worth over $25 billion. The global financial crisis, declining exports, and low domestic consumption and fixed asset accumulation, dampened by government austerity measures, will result in a negative growth rate of about -1.5% to -2.5% in 2009.
GDP (purchasing power parity): $205.7 billion (2008 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate): $131.4 billion (2008 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: -1.5% (2008 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP): $20,500 (2008 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 3.2%, industry: 31.9%, services: 65% (2008 est.)
Labor force: 4.2 million (2008 est.)
Unemployment rate: 8% (2008 est.)
Population below poverty line: 8.6% (1993 est.)
Budget: revenues: $76.2 billion, expenditures: $81.5 billion (2008 est.)
Public debt: 73.8% of GDP (2008 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 6.1% (2008 est.)
Agriculture - products: wheat, corn, sunflower seed, potatoes, sugar beets; pigs, cattle, poultry, dairy products
Industries: mining, metallurgy, construction materials, processed foods, textiles, chemicals (especially pharmaceuticals), motor vehicles
Industrial production growth rate: 0.4% (2008 est.)
Current account balance: -$6.89 billion (2008 est.)
Exports: $109.3 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)
Exports - commodities: machinery and equipment 61.1%, other manufactures 28.7%, food products 6.5%, raw materials 2%, fuels and electricity 1.6% (2003)
Exports - partners: Germany 28.1%, Italy 5.6%, France 4.7%, Austria 4.6%, Romania 4.5%, UK 4.5%, Slovakia 4.2%, Poland 4.2% (2007)
Imports: $107.5 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)
Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment 51.6%, other manufactures 35.7%, fuels and electricity 7.7%, food products 3.1%, raw materials 2.0% (2003)
Imports - partners: Germany 26.6%, China 7.8%, Russia 6.9%, Austria 6.1%, Italy 4.5%, France 4.3%, Netherlands 4.3% (2007)
Economic aid - recipient: $302.6 million (2004)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $30.95 billion (31 December 2008)
Debt - external: $144.2 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Currency Exchange rates: forints (HUF) per US dollar - 171.8 (2008),
Telephone system: general assessment: the telephone system has been modernized and is capable of satisfying all requests for telecommunication service; domestic: the system is digitalized and highly automated; trunk services are carried by fiber-optic cable and digital microwave radio relay; a program for fiber-optic subscriber connections was initiated in 1996; competition among mobile-cellular service providers has led to a sharp increase in the use of mobile cellular phones since 2000 and a decrease in the number of fixed-line connections; international: country code - 36; Hungary has fiber-optic cable connections with all neighboring countries; the international switch is in Budapest; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean regions), 1 Inmarsat, 1 very small aperture terminal (VSAT) system of ground terminals
Internet country code: .hu
Internet hosts: 1.879 million (2008)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 16 (2000)
Internet users: 4.2 million (2007)
Transportation: Airports: 46 (2007). Airports - with paved runways: total: 20. Airports - with unpaved runways: 26
Heliports: 5 (2007); Railways: total: 8,057 km, broad gauge: 36 km 1.524-m gauge, standard gauge: 7,802 km 1.435-m gauge (2,628 km electrified), narrow gauge: 219 km 0.760-m gauge (2006); Roadways: total: 159,568 km, paved: 70,050 km (30,874 km of interurban roads including 626 km of expressways), unpaved: 89,518 km (2005); Waterways: 1,622 km (most on Danube River) (2008)
Military branches: Ground Forces, Hungarian Air Force (Magyar Legiero, ML) (2008)
Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for voluntary military service; conscription abolished in June 2004; 6-month service obligation, with reserve obligation to age 50 (2006)
Manpower available for military service: males age 16-49: 2,391,400, females age 16-49: 2,337,240 (2008 est.)
Military expenditures: 1.75% of GDP (2005 est.)
Disputes - international: bilateral government, legal, technical and economic working group negotiations continue in 2006 with Slovakia over Hungary's failure to complete its portion of the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros hydroelectric dam project along the Danube; as a member state that forms part of the EU's external border, Hungary has implemented the strict Schengen border rules
Illicit drugs: transshipment point for Southwest Asian heroin and cannabis and for South American cocaine destined for Western Europe; limited producer of precursor chemicals, particularly for amphetamine and methamphetamine; efforts to counter money laundering, related to organized crime and drug trafficking, are improving, but remain vulnerable; significant consumer of ecstasy

Information source: CIA: The World Fact Book. For more detailed and up-to-date information visit https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/hu.html