Country:  Hungary
- Geography
Total area: 93,030 km2; land area: 92,340 km2
 
Comparative area: slightly smaller than Indiana
 
Land boundaries: 2,251 km total; Austria 366 km, Czechoslovakia 676
km, Romania 443 km, USSR 135 km, Yugoslavia 631 km
 
Coastline: none--landlocked
 
Maritime claims: none--landlocked
 
Disputes: Transylvania question with Romania; Nagymaros Dam
dispute with Czechoslovakia
 
Climate: temperate; cold, cloudy, humid winters; warm summers
 
Terrain: mostly flat to rolling plains
 
Natural resources: bauxite, coal, natural gas, fertile soils
 
Land use: 54% arable land; 3% permanent crops; 14% meadows and pastures;
18% forest and woodland; 11% other; includes 2% irrigated
 
Environment: levees are common along many streams, but flooding occurs
almost every year
 
Note: landlocked; strategic location astride main land routes
between Western Europe and Balkan Peninsula as well as between USSR and
Mediterranean basin
 
- People
Population: 10,568,686 (July 1990), growth rate - 0.1% (1990)
 
Birth rate: 12 births/1,000 population (1990)
 
Death rate: 13 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
 
Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)
 
Infant mortality rate: 15 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
 
Life expectancy at birth: 67 years male, 75 years female (1990)
 
Total fertility rate: 1.8 children born/woman (1990)
 
Nationality: noun--Hungarian(s); adjective--Hungarian
 
Ethnic divisions: 96.6% Hungarian, 1.6% German, 1.1% Slovak, 0.3%
Southern Slav, 0.2% Romanian
 
Religion: 67.5% Roman Catholic, 20.0% Calvinist, 5.0% Lutheran, 7.5%
atheist and other
 
Language: 98.2% Hungarian, 1.8% other
 
Literacy: 99%
 
Labor force: 4,860,000; 43.2% services, trade, government, and other,
30.9% industry, 18.8% agriculture, 7.1% construction (1988)
 
Organized labor: 96.5% of labor force; Central Council of Hungarian Trade
Unions (SZOT) includes 19 affiliated unions, all controlled by the government;
independent unions legal; may be as many as 12 small independent unions
in operation
 
- Government
Long-form name: Republic of Hungary
 
Type: republic
 
Capital: Budapest
 
Administrative divisions: 19 counties (megyek, singular--megye) and
1 capital city* (fovaros); Bacs-Kiskun, Baranya, Bekes,
Borsod-Abauj-Zemplen, Budapest*, Csongrad, Fejer, Gyor-Sopron,
Hajdu-Bihar, Heves, Komarom, Nograd, Pest, Somogy, Szabolcs-Szatmar,
Szolnok, Tolna, Vas, Veszprem, Zala
 
Independence: 1001, unification by King Stephen I
 
Constitution: 18 August 1949, effective 20 August 1949, revised 19 April
1972 and 18 October 1989
 
Legal system: based on Communist legal theory, with both civil law system
(civil code of 1960) and common law elements; Supreme Court renders decisions of
principle that sometimes have the effect of declaring legislative acts
unconstitutional; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
 
National holiday: Anniversary of the Liberation, 4 April (1945)
 
Executive branch: president, premier, Council of Ministers
 
Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly (Orszaggyules)
 
Judicial branch: Supreme Court
 
Leaders:
Chief of State--President-designate Arpad GONCZ (since
2 May 1990);
 
Head of Government--Prime Minister Jozsef ANTALL
(since 23 May 1990)
 
Political parties and leaders: Democratic Forum, Jozsef Antall,
chairman; Free Democrats, Janos Kis, chairman; Independent Smallholders,
Istvan Prepeliczay, president; Hungarian Socialist Party (MSP), Rezso
Nyers, chairman; Young Democrats; Christian Democrats, Sandor Keresztes,
president; note--the Hungarian Socialist (Communist) Workers' Party
(MSZMP) renounced Communism and became the Hungarian Socialist Party
(MSP) in October 1989
 
Suffrage: universal at age 18
 
Elections:
National Assembly--last held on 25 March 1990 (first round, with
the second round held 8 April 1990);
results--percent of vote by party NA;
seats--(394 total) Democratic Forum 165, Free Democrats 92,
Independent Smallholders 43, Hungarian Socialist Party (MSP) 33,
Young Democrats 21, Christian Democrats 21, independent candidates
or jointly sponsored candidates 19; an additional 8 seats
will be given to representatives of minority nationalities
 
Communists: fewer than 100,000 (December 1989)
 
Member of: CCC, CEMA, FAO, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, IBEC, ICAC, ICAO,
ILO, ILZSG, IMF, IMO, IPU, ISO, ITC, ITU, UN, UNESCO, UPU, Warsaw Pact,
WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO
 
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Dr. Peter VARKONYI;
Chancery at 3910 Shoemaker Street NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone
(202) 362-6730;
there is a Hungarian Consulate General in New York;
US--Ambassador-designate Charles THOMAS; Embassy at V. Szabadsag
Ter 12, Budapest (mailing address is APO New York 09213); telephone p36o
(1) 126-450
 
Flag: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and green
 
- Economy
Overview: Hungary's postwar Communist government spurred the movement
from a predominantly agricultural to an industrialized economy. The share
of the labor force in agriculture dropped from over 50% in 1950 to under
20% in 1989. Agriculture nevertheless remains an important sector,
providing sizable export earnings and meeting domestic food needs.
Industry accounts for about 40% of GNP and 30% of employment. Nearly
three-fourths of foreign trade is with the USSR and Eastern Europe.  Low
rates of growth reflect the inability of the Soviet-style economy to
modernize capital plant and motivate workers. GNP grew about 1% in 1988
and declined by 1% in 1989. Since 1985 external debt has
more than doubled, to nearly $20 billion. In recent years Hungary has
moved further than any other East European country in experimenting with
decentralized and market-oriented enterprises. These experiments have
failed to jump-start the economy because of: limitations on funds for
privatization; continued subsidization of insolvent state enterprises;
and the leadership's reluctance to implement sweeping market reforms
that would cause additional social dislocations in the short term.
 
GNP: $64.6 billion, per capita $6,108; real growth rate - 1.3%
(1989 est.)
 
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 18% (1989 est.)
 
Unemployment rate: 0.4% (1989)
 
Budget: revenues $14.0 billion; expenditures $14.2 billion, including
capital expenditures of $944 million (1988)
 
Exports: $19.1 billion (f.o.b. 1988);
commodities--capital goods 36%, foods 24%, consumer goods 18%, fuels
and minerals 11%, other 11%;
partners USSR 48%, Eastern Europe 25%, developed countries 16%,
less developed countries 8% (1987)
 
Imports: $18.3 billion (c.i.f., 1988);
commodities--machinery and transport 28%, fuels 20%, chemical
products 14%, manufactured consumer goods 16%, agriculture 6%, other
16%;
partners--USSR 43%, Eastern Europe 28%, less developed countries 23%,
US 3% (1987)
 
External debt: $19.6 billion (1989)
 
Industrial production: growth rate 0.6% (1988)
 
Electricity: 7,250,000 kW capacity; 30,300 million kWh produced,
2,870 kWh per capita (1989)
 
Industries: mining, metallurgy, engineering industries, processed foods,
textiles, chemicals (especially pharmaceuticals)
 
Agriculture: including forestry, accounts for about 15% of GNP and 19% of
employment; highly diversified crop-livestock farming; principal
crops--wheat, corn, sunflowers, potatoes, sugar beets;
livestock--hogs, cattle, poultry, dairy products; self-sufficient in
food output
 
Aid: donor--$1.8 billion in bilateral aid to non-Communist less developed
countries (1962-88)
 
Currency: forint (plural--forints); 1 forint (Ft) = 100 filler
 
Exchange rates: forints (Ft) per US$1--62.5 (January 1990), 59.2 (1989),
50.413 (1988), 46.971 (1987), 45.832 (1986), 50.119 (1985)
 
Fiscal year: calendar year
 
- Communications
Railroads: 7,770 km total; 7,513 km 1.435-meter standard gauge,
222 km narrow gauge (mostly 0.760-meter), 35 km 1.524-meter broad gauge; 1,138
km double track, 2,088 km electrified; all government owned (1987)
 
Highways: 130,000 km total; 29,701 km national highway
system--26,727 km asphalt and bitumen, 146 km concrete, 55 km stone and
road brick, 2,345 km macadam, 428 km unpaved; 58,495 km country roads
(66% unpaved), and 41,804 km (est.) other roads (70% unpaved) (1987)
 
Inland waterways: 1,622 km (1986)
 
Pipelines: crude oil, 1,204 km; refined products, 600 km; natural gas,
3,800 km (1986)
 
Ports: Budapest and Dunaujvaros are river ports on the Danube; maritime
outlets are Rostock (GDR), Gdansk (Poland), Gdynia (Poland), Szczecin (Poland),
Galati (Romania), and Braila (Romania)
 
Merchant marine: 16 cargo ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 77,141
GRT/103,189 DWT
 
Civil air: 22 major transport aircraft
 
Airports: 90 total, 90 usable; 20 with permanent-surface runways;
2 with runways over 3,659 m; 10 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 15 with runways
1,220-2,439 m
 
Telecommunications: stations--13 AM, 11 FM, 21 TV; 8 Soviet TV relays;
3,500,000 TV sets; 5,500,000 receiver sets; at least 1 satellite earth station
 
- Defense Forces
Branches: Hungarian People's Army, Frontier Guard, Air and Air Defense
Command
 
Military manpower: males 15-49, 2,645,016; 2,112,651 fit for military
service; 86,481 reach military age (18) annually
 
Defense expenditures: 43.7 billion forints, NA% of total budget (1989);
note--conversion of the military budget into US dollars using the official
administratively set exchange rate would produce misleading results