 unlucky number.

 Arrive on time if invited for dinner, although a 5-minute grace period is

granted.
 Table manners are formal in Hungary.
 Although Hungarians are transactional and do not require long-standing
personal relationships in order to conduct business, being introduced by
someone they know and trust can often help
 Hungarians prefer face-to-face meetings rather than more impersonal vehicles
of communication such as letters.
 Hungarians are suspicious of people who are reticent and not willing to share
their innermost thoughts.
 The Hungarian side should list your surname before your first name,
Hungarian style.

Language:

 The official language of Hungarian is spoken by 98% of the 10.3m population.

Minority languages have become more prominent in recent years, and they
 include German, Croatian, Romani, Slovak, Romanian, Serbian and Slovene.
Attempts are being made to protect these languages, as many members of the
ethnic groups actually do not speak them

Map:

 Largest cities in Hungary are:

Budapest (1.6 million), Debrecen (115,000), Miskolc (109,000), Szeged
(104,000), Pécs (90,000), Györ (70,000), Nyíregyháza (56,000), Kecskemét
(42,000), and Székesfehérvár (42,000)

Population:

 Hungary Population in 2018 is 9,675,437 people.

 Hungary has been inhabited by many people over its long history, including
the Celts, Romans, Slavs, Huns, Avars, and Gepids. Today, ethnic Hungarians
account for the largest ethnicity at 84% of the population, followed by Romani
(3%), Germans (1%), Slovaks (0.3%), Romanians (0.3%), and Croats (0.2%).
Almost 15% of the population did not declare an ethnicity at the 2011 census.
 GDP:

Hungary’s gross domestic product advanced 1.2 percent on quarter in the three
months to September of 2018, following an upwardly revised 1.1 percent
expansion in the previous period, a preliminary estimate showed. GDP Growth
Rate in Hungary averaged 0.60 percent from 1995 until 2018, reaching an all
time high of 2.10 percent in the first quarter of 2002 and a record low of -4.10
percent in the first quarter of 2009.

Year GDP GDP Growth GDP per capita ($)

2010 130.923 b 0.682% 13,092
2011 140.782 b 1.662% 14,118
2012 127.857 b -1.644% 12,888
2013 135.216 b 2.096% 13,667
2014 140.118 b 4.228% 14,201
2015 122.879 b 3.367% 12,483
2016 125.817 b 2.213% 12,820
2017 139.135 b 3.989% 14,224

GNP:
Hungary’s Gross National Product was reported at 133.447 USD bn in Dec 2017.
This records an increase from the previous number of 118.779 USD bn for Dec 2016.
Hungary’s Gross National Product data is updated yearly, averaging 106.513 USD bn
from Dec 1993 to 2017, with 25 observations. The data reached an all-time high of
147.665 USD bn in 2008 and a record low of 39.584 USD bn in 1993.

Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

GNP 124,207 133,587 122,245 131,156 133,455 116,005 118,779 133,447

Poverty:
 Even though the country has a very high standard of living, many of its
people live in poverty. Here are facts about poverty in Hungary:
1- the portion of Hungarian children living in relative poverty has risen from
seven percent in 2007 to 17 percent in 2012. As housing prices have
increased, especially outside of cities, it has become increasingly difficult for
families to find affordable housing.
2- Fewer people live in poverty in Hungary than the EU average. While the
average number of people living below the poverty line in the EU is 17
 percent, this number in Hungary is 14.6 percent.
3- Many young people feel like they have no future in the country. According
to a report by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, about half of people
between the ages 19 and 30 would like to work abroad.
4- As housing prices have soared, more families are accumulating debt.
Housing prices have increased by an average of 31 percent over the past three
years. The only European country with more quickly rising real estate prices
is Sweden.
5- Almost half of Hungarians–44 percent–cannot afford basic resources. This
compares with an average of 19 percent across the EU.
6- The highest rates of poverty in Hungary are in the northeastern part of the
country. The regions of Ezak-Magyarorzag and Eszak-Alfold have poverty
rates above the EU average. The causes of this range from inadequate
infrastructure to little economic activity to an insufficiently skilled workforce.
7- For every 1,000 Hungarian children, 6.1 die before their fifth birthday,
according to a report by the Save the Children Foundation. This is above the
EU average as well as the rates in countries such as Libya, Bulgaria, Cuba
and Macedonia.
8- Recently, more children have been taken from their families due to
poverty. The government places children in orphanages and forbids them
from returning home to see their parents.
9- Percentage of population below poverty line was 14.9% in 2015

Inequality:

 Hungary GINI index was at level of 30.4 index in 2015, down from 30.9
index previous year, this is a change of 1.62 %. Gini index measures the
extent to which the distribution of income or consumption expenditure among
individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal
distribution.
 The average Hungarian income is about US $ 11,000 per year, in purchasing
power parities. This is half the OECD average level, slightly higher than in
Poland or Slovakia and about 30% below the Portuguese level. However, the
 average income of the poorest 10% of the Hungarian population is at the
same level than in Portugal.
 Labor market changes have been a main driver of changes in the income
distribution. First, as a consequence of significantly higher inactivity rates,
the share of jobless households has increased by as much as 11 percentage
points since 1995 to 19%, the highest level together with Germany. Second,
for people remaining active, the distribution of gross wages widened
significantly since 1990, more than in most other countries.
 Capital income, too, has become more unequally distributed, at a faster rate
than in any other country. The share of capital in total household more than
doubled, from 3 to 7%, approaching OECD average level.
 Changes in household structures also played a role. During the last 10 years,
the average household size fell from above OECD average to below average.
The number of working‐age households with children fell by more than 10
percentage points.
 Income Inequality rates (according to gini index)

Year 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Ratio 29.4 29.2 30.8 31.5 30.9 30.4
Population:

 According to the demographers, about 80 percent of the population was made

up of Hungarians before the Battle of Mohács, however the Hungarian ethnic
group became a minority in its own country in the 18th century due to the
resettlement policies and continuous immigration from neighboring countries.
Major territorial changes made Hungary ethnically homogeneous after World
War I. Nowadays, more than nine-tenths of the population is ethnically
Hungarian and speaks Hungarian as the mother tongue.
 Unemployment:
 Unemployment in Hungary measured by the Hungarian Central Statistical
Office shows the rate of unemployed individuals out of the labor force. It was
4.1% or 189,000 as of July-September 2017 in the 15-64 age groups. The
number of employed people between the age of 15 and 64 was 4,451,000 or
68,7% at that time.
 The unemployment rate in Hungary decreased to 3.8 percent in the three month
to September from 4.1 percent in the same period of the previous year. The
number of unemployed went down by 10 thousand from the previous year to
178 thousand and employment rose by 36 thousand to 4.487 million. Among
genders, the jobless rate was lower for men (3.4 percent from 3.6 percent) than
for women (4.4 percent from 4.7 percent). The 15-24 age group registered the
highest jobless rate (10.7 percent), followed by the 25-54 age group (3.4
percent) and the 55-74 age group (2.7 percent). Meanwhile, the employment
rate increased to 69.5 percent from 68.7 percent and the activity rate went up to
55.4 percent from 54.9 percent. Unemployment Rate in Hungary averaged 7.43
percent from 1999 until 2018, reaching an all-time high of 11.80 percent in
March of 2010 and a record low of 3.60 percent in June of 2018.
 International Trade:

 Exports: In 2016 Hungary exported $101B, making it the 35th largest exporter
in the world. During the last five years the exports of Hungary have decreased
at an annualized rate of -0.1%, from $101B in 2011 to $101B in 2016. The most
recent exports are led by Cars which represent 11.1% of the total exports of
Hungary, followed by Vehicle Parts, which account for 5.84%.
 Imports: In 2016 Hungary imported $88.4B, making it the 34th largest importer
in the world. During the last five years the imports of Hungary have decreased
at an annualized rate of -2%, from $96.3B in 2011 to $88.4B in 2016. The most
recent imports are led by Vehicle Parts which represent 5.51% of the total
imports of Hungary, followed by Cars, which account for 3.18%.
 Trade Balance: As of 2016 Hungary had a positive trade balance of $13B in net
exports. As compared to their trade balance in 1995 when they had a negative
trade balance of $1.11B in net imports.
 Destinations: The top export destinations of Hungary are Germany ($26.5B),
the United States ($5.26B), Romania ($5.23B), Italy ($5B) and France
($4.61B).
 Origins: The top import origins of Hungary are Germany ($23.7B), Austria
($5.53B), China ($5.38B), Poland ($4.86B) and Slovakia ($4.37B).

Solutions to solve Hungary problems (Outside Assistance

from the world bank):

 Hungary joined the World Bank in 1982. At that time, World Bank assistance to
Hungary focused on building the foundations for economic liberalization,
expanding productive capacity (particularly in industry and agriculture), and
modernizing infrastructure (transport, energy, and telecommunications). During
the 1990s, the focus of the Bank’s program shifted to support for
macroeconomic and structural adjustment, human resource development, and
institution building.
 The Bank’s assistance program will focus on a program of analytical and
advisory activities (AAA) selected from the following priority areas:

1- Sub-national development: Hungary’s sub-national system requires further

strengthening and reform, prior to EU accession, in order to receive and
administer EU structural funds. The assistance program would help support the
establishment of regions as effective intermediate layers of governance, with an
appropriate alignment of functions and financing competencies between the
central and sub-national government levels, as well as improve local financing
and management capacity and expand public-private partnerships.
2- Energy. The Bank is hoping to continue support to help Hungary complete
the energy policy requirements
3- Social exclusion and poverty: The program will help strengthen the Roma
Secretariat established in the Prime Minister’s Office; develop financing
mechanisms to ensure the sustainability of successful projects and pilots; and
provide policy advice on specific sectors such as education and housing.
4- Health care financing: In response to the Government’s request, the Bank
will provide support for the reform of health care financing to help ensure
quality health services
5- Environment: The ongoing Municipal Wastewater project is part of a Euro
100 million investment aimed at reducing the pollution load in the Danube
River Basin, strengthening compliance with Hungarian and EU environmental
standards, and improving wastewater operations in the water and wastewater
utilities
6- Knowledge Economy: Developing the knowledge economy: e-Europe, e-
government, e-commerce, enhanced research and development, innovation and
education – will be a focus of future Bank activity in selected accession
countries, including Hungary.
7- The bus and tram system in Budapest reformed and upgraded: Transport
infrastructure, most recently the bus and tram system in Budapest, has been
upgraded with World Bank support. The Bank has also supported the reform of
the Transport Sector.