Hungarian diaspora

There are two main groups of the Hungarian diaspora: the first group includes those who are autochthonous to their homeland and live outside Hungary since the border changes of the post-World War I Treaty of Trianon of 1920.^{[2][note 1]} The victorious forces redrew the borders of Hungary so that it runs through Hungarian-majority areas. As a consequence, 3.3 million Hungarians found themselves outside the new borders. Although those Hungarians are usually not included in the term "Hungarian diaspora",^[3] they are listed as such in this article. The other main group is the emigrants who left Hungary at various times (such as the Hungarian Revolution of 1956). There has been some emigration since Hungary joined the EU in 2004, especially to countries such as Germany,^[4] but those patterns have been less extensive than for certain other countries of Central Europe such as Poland and Slovakia.

Hungarian diaspora in the world (includes people with Hungarian ancestry or citizenship).

  Hungary

  +1,000,000

  +100,000

  +10,000

  +1,000

Areas with ethnic Hungarian majorities in the neighboring countries of Hungary, according to László Sebők.^[1]

Additionally, there is the Magyarab people, a small ethnic group located in Egypt and Sudan.^[5]

Distribution by country

Country	Hungarian population	Note	Article
Neighboring countries
Romania	1,002,151 (2021)[6] (excluding Csángós)[7]	Native to Transylvania,[8] Csángós in Western Moldavia (moved from Transylvania there in the past), and a very small community of Szeklers also in Bukovina (see also Székelys of Bukovina)	Hungarians in Romania
Slovakia	456,154 (2021)[9]	Autochthonous[10]	Hungarians in Slovakia
Serbia	184,442 (2021)[11]	Autochthonous in Vojvodina	Hungarians in Serbia
Ukraine	156,600 (2001)[12]	Autochthonous in Zakarpattia Oblast	Hungarians in Ukraine
Austria	107,347 (2024)[13]	Autochthonous in Burgenland	Hungarians in Austria
Croatia	10,315 (2021)[14]	Autochthonous in Croatia, except in Istria and Dalmatia	Hungarians in Croatia
Slovenia	10,500 (2021)[15]	Autochthonous in Prekmurje	Hungarians in Slovenia
Other countries
United States	1,563,081 (2006)[16]	Immigrants	Hungarian Americans
Canada	348,085 (2016)[17]	Immigrants	Hungarian Canadians
Germany	296,000 (2021)[18]	Immigrants	Hungarians in Germany
Israel	200,000 to 250,000 (2000s)[19]	Immigrants; most are Hungarian Jews
United Kingdom	200,000 to 250,000 (2020)[20][21]	Immigrants	Hungarians in the United Kingdom
France	200,000 to 250,000 (2021)[22][23]	Immigrants	Hungarians in France
Brazil	80,000 (2002)[24]	Immigrants	Hungarian Brazilians
Russia	76,500 (2002)	Immigrants	Hungarians in Russia
Australia	69,167 (2011)[25]	Immigrants	Hungarian Australians
Argentina	40,000 to 50,000 (2016)[26]	Immigrants	Hungarian Argentines
Sweden	33,018 (2018)[27]	Immigrants	Hungarians in Sweden
Switzerland	27,000 (2019)[28]	Immigrants
Netherlands	26,172 (2020)[29]	Immigrants
Czech Republic	20,000 (2013)[30]	People of Hungarian descent forcibly relocated from the Slovak part of the Third Czechoslovak Republic
Belgium	15,000 (2013)[30]	Immigrants
Italy	14,000 (2019)[28]	Immigrants
Spain	10,000 (2019)[28]	Immigrants
Ireland	9,000 (2019)[28]	Immigrants
Norway	8,316 (2015)[31]	Immigrants
New Zealand	7,000 (2013)[30]	Immigrants	Hungarian New Zealanders
Turkey	6,800 (2001)	Immigrants	Hungarians in Turkey
Denmark	6,000 (2019)[28]	Immigrants
Japan	5,600 (2022)[28]	Immigrants
Bosnia and Herzegovina	4,000[citation needed]	Immigrants
South Africa	4,000 (2013)[30]	Immigrants
Venezuela	4,000 (2013)[30]	Immigrants	Hungarian Venezuelans
Mexico	3,500 (2006)	Immigrants	Hungarian Mexicans
Finland	3,000 (2019)[28]	Immigrants	Hungarians in Finland
Uruguay	3,000 (2013)[30]	Immigrants	Hungarian Uruguayans
Greece	2,387 (2018)[21]	Immigrants
Chile	2,000 (2012)[32]	Immigrants	Hungarians in Chile
Luxembourg	2,000 (2019)[28]	Immigrants
Poland	1,728 (2011)[33]	Immigrants	Hungarians in Poland
Portugal	1,230 (2022)[34]	Foreign citizens only; for instance, excludes 79 Luso-Hungarians who have acquired Portuguese citizenship since 2008[35]
Jordan	1,000 (2019)[28]	Immigrants
Cyprus	620 (2018)[21]	Immigrants
Kazakhstan	500 (2021)[36]	Immigrants
Montenegro	400[citation needed]	Immigrants
Latvia	300[citation needed]	Immigrants
Uzbekistan	300[citation needed]	Immigrants
Philippines	206 (2010)[37]	Immigrants
Iceland	200 (2015)[31]	Immigrants
North Macedonia	200[citation needed]	Immigrants
Estonia	173 (2018)[21]	Immigrants
Bulgaria	153 (2015)[31]	Immigrants
Vietnam	100 (2015)[38]	Immigrants
Liechtenstein	44 (2015)[31]	Immigrants
Lithuania	23 (2015)[31]	Immigrants
Total	5.2–5.5 million		Hungarians

Hungarian immigration patterns to Western Europe increased in the 1990s and especially since 2004, after Hungary's admission in the European Union. Thousands of Hungarians from Hungary sought available work through guest-worker contracts in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Spain, and Portugal.

Hungarian citizenship

Flag of Hungary

A proposal supported by the DAHR to grant Hungarian citizenship to Hungarians living in Romania but without meeting Hungarian-law residency requirements was narrowly defeated at a 2004 referendum in Hungary.^[39] The referendum was invalid because of not enough participants. After the failure of the 2004 referendum, the leaders of the Hungarian ethnic parties in the neighboring countries formed the HTMSZF organization in January 2005, as an instrument lobbying for preferential treatment in the granting of Hungarian citizenship.^[40]

In 2010, some amendments were passed in Hungarian law facilitating an accelerated naturalization process for ethnic Hungarians living abroad; among other changes, the residency-in-Hungary requirement was waived.^[41] In May 2010, Slovakia announced it would strip Slovak citizenship from anyone applying for Hungarian citizenship.^[42] Romania's President Traian Băsescu declared in October 2010: "We have no objections to the adoption by the Hungarian government and parliament of a law making it easier to grant Hungarian citizenship to ethnic Hungarians living abroad."^[43]

The new citizenship law took effect on 1 January 2011. It did not grant the right to vote, even in national elections, to Hungarian citizens unless they also resided in Hungary on a permanent basis.^[44] In February 2011, the Fidesz government announced that it intended to grant the right to vote to its new citizens.^[45] Between 2011 and 2012, 200,000 applicants took advantage of the new, accelerated naturalization process;^[46] there were another 100,000 applications pending in the summer of 2012.^[47] As of February 2013, the Hungarian government had granted citizenship to almost 400,000 Hungarians ‘beyond the borders’.^[48] In June 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén announced that he expected the number to reach about half a million by the end of the year.^[49]

Hungarian citizens abroad have been able to participate in the parliamentary elections without Hungarian residency starting from the 2014 Hungarian parliamentary election, however, they cannot vote for a candidate running for the seat in a single-seat constituency, but for a party list.

Famous people of Hungarian descent

Main category: People of Hungarian descent

Country	Name	Occupation	Source
Austria	Ferenc Anisits	Engineer
United States	Albert-László Barabási	Physicist and discoverer of scale-free networks
United States	Drew Barrymore	Actress	[50][51]
Austria	Béla Barényi	Engineer and prolific inventor
Germany	Josef von Báky	Film director
United States	Béla Bartók	Composer
United States	Zoltán Bay	Physicist and engineer
United States	György von Békésy	Biophysicist and Nobel Prize winner
United States	Pal Benko	Chess player and a record eight-time U.S. Open winner
United States	Adrien Brody	Actor and youngest winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor	[52]
United States	György Buzsáki[53]	Neuroscientist
United States	Mihály Csíkszentmihályi	Psychologist of flow
United States	Larry Csonka	American football fullback
United States	Tony Curtis	Actor	[54][55]
France	György Cziffra	Pianist
United States Mexico	Louis C.K.	Comedian	[56]
United States	Rodney Dangerfield	Comedian	[57]
United States	Frank Darabont	Film director and screenplay writer
United States	Ernst von Dohnányi	Composer, pianist, and conductor
United States	Bobby Fischer	Chess player
Germany	Ferenc Fricsay	Conductor
United Kingdom	Stephen Fry	Comedian	[58]
United States	Zsa Zsa Gabor	Actress	[59]
United States	Peter Carl Goldmark	Engineer and inventor
United States	Andrew Grove	Businessman and entrepreneur
United States	Mickey Hargitay	Actor, body builder, and 1955 Mr. Universe
United States	Harry Houdini	Escapologist and magician
United States	Tim Howard	Soccer goalkeeper
Sweden Germany	George de Hevesy	Radiochemist and co-discoverer of hafnium	[60]
United States	Ilonka Karasz	Designer and illustrator known for her many New Yorker magazine covers
United States	Katalin Karikó	Biochemist and Nobel Prize winner
United States	Theodore von Kármán	Aeronautical engineer
United States	John George Kemeny	Mathematician, computer scientist, and co-developer of BASIC	[61]
United States	Laszlo B. Kish	Physicist
Sweden	George Klein	Microbiologist and author
Austria	Ferenc Krausz	Physicist and Nobel Prize winner
Belgium	Alexandre Lamfalussy	Economist
Germany	Philipp Lenard	Physicist and Nobel Prize winner
United States	Bela Lugosi	Actor
Mexico	Luis Mandoki	Film director
United States	Ilona Massey	Actress
United States	Paul Neményi	Physicist and mathematician	[62]
United States	John von Neumann	Mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, and polymath	[63][64]
Slovakia	Ľudovít Ódor	Prime Minister, Deputy Governor of the national bank
United States	Thomas Peterffy	Businessman and founder of Interactive Brokers
United States	Joaquin Phoenix	Actor	[65]
United States	Joseph Pulitzer	Journalist	[66]
United Kingdom	Árpád Pusztai	Biochemist
Slovakia	Ľudovít Rajter	Conductor
France	Nicolas Sarkozy	23rd President of France	[67]
Austria	Franz Schmidt	Composer
United States	Jerry Seinfeld	Comedian, actor, writer, and producer	[68]
United States	Monica Seles	Tennis player
United States	Gene Simmons	Musician	[69]
Canada	Hans Selye	Endocrinologist
United States	Charles Simonyi	Software architect
United States	Victor Szebehely	Astronomist and physicist
United States	Albert Szent-Györgyi	Biochemist and Nobel Prize winner
United States	Leó Szilárd	Physicist and inventor	[70]
United States	Mária Telkes	Biophysicist and inventor
United States	Edward Teller	Physicist, engineer, and “father of the hydrogen bomb	[71]
United Kingdom	Kálmán Tihanyi	Physicist, engineer, and inventor
Czech Republic	Tomáš Ujfaluši	Association football player
France	Victor Vasarely	Artist of op art movement
United States	Gabriel von Wayditch	Composer
Germany	Richárd Zsigmondy	Chemist and Nobel Prize winner
France	Gyula Halász (Brassaï)	Photographer, sculptor, medalist, writer, and filmmaker
United States	Ivan Soltész	Scientist
Czech Republic	Tomáš Ujfaluši	Football player
Israel	Yair Lapid	Former Prime Minister of Israel
Israel	Benny Gantz	Former Israeli Minister of Defence

Politics

Since the Hungarian diaspora could start voting in elections in Hungary from 2012,^[72] they have overwhelmingly supported the ruling Fidesz. In the 2014 Hungarian parliamentary election, Fidesz won over 95% of the vote,^[73] in the 2018 Hungarian parliamentary election, over 96%, while in the 2019 European Parliament election in Hungary, Fidesz received 96%.^[74]

Minority interest parties

In several Eastern European countries, parties that represent the interests of Hungarian minorities have emerged.

Country	Party
Croatia	Democratic Union of Hungarians of Croatia
Romania	Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania
Romania	Hungarian Alliance of Transylvania
Serbia	Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians
Slovakia	Hungarian Alliance
Ukraine	Party of Hungarians of Ukraine (KMKSZ)

Gallery

• 
  John von Neumann (1903–1957), Hungarian-American mathematician and physicist of Hungarian descent.
• 
  Mickey Hargitay was a Hungarian-American actor and 1955 Mr. Universe.

See also

• List of Hungarians
• Demographics of Hungary
• History of Hungary
• Hungarian Revolution of 1956
• Treaty of Trianon

Notes

1. During World War II, some areas were regained by Hungary but later lost after the 1947 Treaty of Paris.

References

1. "Sebők László's ethnic map of Central and Southeastern Europe". Archived from the original on 2009-02-26.
2. Mathey, Éva (2012-09-14). "Chasing a Mirage: Hungarian Revisionist Search for U.S. Support to Dismantle the Trianon Peace Treaty, 1920–1938" (PDF). The Trianon Syndrome and Treaty Revision. University of Debrecen. pp. 38–39. Retrieved 2021-05-08. Since the Great Powers who dictated the peace terms disregarded the principle of national self-determination in Hungary's case and did not draw the new borders of Hungary to follow ethnic and linguistic lines, 3.3 million ethnic Hungarians were lost to the successor states.
3. "Diaspora and scattering" (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2021-05-05. Hungarian communities abroad can be divided into at least two major categories. On the one hand, the so-called indigenous (autochthonous) minority communities – established as a result of border changes, mainly the new state borders set out in the Treaty of Trianon. On the other hand, diaspora communities of migratory (allochthonous) origin.
4. "See page 21 of this report" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-10-25. Retrieved 2014-04-26.
5. huconedit (2023-06-19). "Magyarabs, the Descendants of Hungarians in Africa | Hungarian Conservative". www.hungarianconservative.com. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
6. Széchely, István (3 January 2023). "Mintha városok ürültek volna ki" [As if cities had been emptied]. Székelyhon (in Hungarian). Retrieved 24 January 2023.
7. 1,370 persons Archived March 2, 2009, at the Wayback Machine declared themselves Csángós at the 2002 Romanian census. Some estimates of the Csángó population run higher. For instance, the Council of Europe Archived 2008-10-02 at the Wayback Machine suggests a figure as high as 260,000.
8. Patrick Heenan, Monique Lamontagne (1999). The Central and Eastern Europe Handbook. Taylor & Francis. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-57958-089-6.
9. "Népszámlálás, 2021: nézzünk szét a "házunk tájékán"!". felvidek.ma. January 21, 2021.
10. Roseann Duenas Gonzalez, Ildiko Melis (2001). Language Ideologies: Critical Perspectives on the Official English Movement. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 302. ISBN 978-0-8058-4054-4.
11. "2011 Census of Population, Households and Dwellings in the Republic of Serbia" (PDF). Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2014.
12. https://mek.oszk.hu/12300/12394/12394.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
13. "Átlépte a lélektani határt az Ausztriában élő magyarok száma". 24.hu. 19 February 2024.
14. "World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Croatia : Overview (2001 census data)". United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. July 2008. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
15. "PeopleGroups.org - Hungarians of Slovenia". peoplegroups.org.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
16. Bureau, U.S. Census. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2017-10-19. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
17. Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (October 25, 2017). "Ethnic Origin (279), Single and Multiple Ethnic Origin Responses (3), Generation Status (4), Age (12) and Sex (3) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces and Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2016 Census - 25% Sample Data". www12.statcan.gc.ca.
18. "Bevölkerung in Privathaushalten nach Migrationshintergrund im weiteren Sinn nach Geburtsstaat in Staatengruppen". Statistisches Bundesamt (in German). Retrieved 2022-02-04.
19. "MAGYAR NEMZETISMERET". nemzetismeret.hu.
20. "It has been officially recognized: far more Hungarians live in the United Kingdom than previously thought". portfolio.hu. 16 February 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
21. Sándor, Joób (April 21, 2018). "Hány magyar dolgozik külföldön és hol?". index.hu.
22. "Hungarians in France". Archived from the original on February 4, 2007.
23. "PeopleGroups.org - Hungarians of France". peoplegroups.org.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
24. "Hungarians in Brazil". Archived from the original on September 22, 2007.
25. Hungary, About (November 19, 2019). "Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's address at the 9th meeting of the Hungarian Diaspora Council". Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s address at the 9th meeting of the Hungarian Diaspora Council.
26. "Thursday Top Ten: Top Ten Countries With The Largest Hungarian Diaspora In The World". December 1, 2016. Archived from the original on December 5, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
27. Befolkning efter födelseland och ursprungsland 31 december 2018
28. "Immigrant and Emigrant Populations by Country of Origin and Destination". migrationpolicy.org. February 10, 2014.
29. "Bevolking; geslacht, leeftijd, generatie en migratieachtergrond, 1 januari". CBS StatLine. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
30. "A diaszpóra tudományos megközelítése". Kőrösi Csoma Sándor program. July 3, 2015.
31. https://sefstat.sef.pt/Docs/Rifa2020.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
32. "Los obreros húngaros emigrados en América Latina entre las dos guerras mundiales. Ilona Varga" (PDF). www.ikl.org.pl. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2016.
33. Ludność. Stan i struktura demograficzno-społeczna. Narodowy Spis Ludności i Mieszkań 2011 (National Census of Population and Housing 2011). GUS. 2013. p. 264.
34. "Sefstat 2022" (PDF).
35. "Acquisition of citizenship statistics". ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 2023-05-28.
36. April 2018, Assel Satubaldina in People on 19 (April 19, 2018). "Hungarians, Kazakhs are almost relatives, says Hungarian cultural centre head".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
37. "Foreign Citizens in the Philippines (Results from the 2010 Census)". psa.gov.ph. Philippine Statistics Authority. November 19, 2012. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
38. Sain, Adrienn (December 20, 2015). "Hungarians in Vietnam – VIDEO". Daily News Hungary.
39. Rogers Brubaker (2006). Nationalist Politics and Everyday Ethnicity in a Transylvanian Town. Princeton University Press. p. 328. ISBN 978-0-691-12834-4.
40. Tristan James Mabry; John McGarry; Margaret Moore; Brendan O'Leary (30 May 2013). Divided Nations and European Integration. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-8122-4497-7.
41. Mária M. Kovács, Judit Tóth, Country report: Hungary Archived 2018-08-30 at the Wayback Machine, Revised and updated April 2013, EUDO Citizenship Observatory, page 1 and 7
42. Slovaks retaliate over Hungarian citizenship law, BBC, 26 May 2010
43. Romania backs Hungarian citizenship law, 18 October 2010, AFP text syndicated to eubusiness.com.
44. New double citizenship law does not change voting rights, EUobserver, 28.05.2010
45. Dual citizenship at its logical conclusion. Policy Solutions’ analysis: A vote for lost Hungarians is a vote for the right Archived 2016-08-10 at the Wayback Machine, Budapest Times, 7 February 2011
46. Mária M. Kovács, Judit Tóth, Country report: Hungary Archived 2018-08-30 at the Wayback Machine, Revised and updated April 2013, EUDO Citizenship Observatory, page 11
47. Mária M. Kovács, Judit Tóth, Country report: Hungary Archived 2018-08-30 at the Wayback Machine, Revised and updated April 2013, EUDO Citizenship Observatory, page 18
48. Hungary and Romania. Flag wars, 21 Feb 2013, The Economist
49. Open wound. Trianon remembered 93 years on Archived 2013-06-14 at the Wayback Machine, Budapest Times, 12 June 2013
50. "Drew Barrymore News and Trivias at CelebrityWonder.com". Archived from the original on 2006-12-08. Retrieved 2006-06-10. "She is half Hungarian on her mother's side."
51. "Simply Drew - Biography".. "Drews Mother - Jaid Barrymore (nee Ildiko Jaid Mako) [was] Born on 8 May 1946 in Brannenburg, West Germany in a camp for displaced persons. Jaids parents (Drew's grandparents) were Hungarian."
52. Fox, Chloe (November 12, 2006). "The prime of Adrien Brody". London: Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved December 13, 2006.
53. "The Brain Prize Winners 2017 - Lundbeckfonden - The Brain Prize". www.thebrainprize.org.
54. "Ananova - Tony Curtis to promote Hungarian tourism". Archived from the original on 2007-04-30. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
55. "Born Bernard Schwartz in 1925 to Jewish-Hungarian parents, Curtis grew up in New York’s matinee movie-palaces..."
56. Vogel, Laura (May 27, 2007). "Louis C.K." New York Post. Archived from the original on December 8, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2010.
57. Rodney Dangerfield: A Lifetime of No Respect but Plenty of Sex and Drugs by Rodney Dangerfield "The whole family had come to America from Hungary when my mother was four. My mother's father--my grandfather--was almost never referred to in that house. Rumor has it he's still in Hungary--and still drinking."
58. "BBC - Family History - WDYTYA? Series Two: Celebrity Gallery". www.bbc.co.uk.
59. "Zsa Zsa Gabor born, Budapest Hungary. Though some sources say 1918, 1919, or 1920. 1936 Elected Miss Hungary."
60. George de Hevesy: life and work : a biography, Hilde Levi, A. Hilger, 1985
61. Weibel, Peter (2005). Beyond Art - A Third Culture : a Comparative Study in Cultures, Art, and Science in 20th Century Austria and Hungary. Springer. p. 350. ISBN 3-211-24562-6.
62. Nicholas, Peter (September 21, 2009). "Chasing the king of chess". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 25, 2009. Retrieved September 21, 2009.
63. Doran, p. 1
64. Nathan Myhrvold, "John von Neumann". Time, March 21, 1999. Accessed September 5, 2010
65. Naomi Pfefferman (2002-04-12). "The Days of Summer". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
66. András Csillag, "Joseph Pulitzer's Roots in Europe: A Genealogical History," American Jewish Archives, Jan 1987, Vol. 39 Issue 1, pp 49–68
67. Schmemann, Serge (15 May 2007). "Opinion - The New French President's Roots Are Worth Remembering". The New York Times.
68. "Jerry Seinfeld's Biography". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2008. Archived from the original on June 6, 2008. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
69. Biography Archived 2012-09-06 at archive.today. GeneSimmons.com. Retrieved on February 1, 2011.
70. Blumesberger, Susanne; et al. (2002). Handbuch österreichischer Autorinnen und Autoren jüdischer Herkunft. Vol. 1. K. G. Saur. ISBN 3-598-11545-8.
71. Video in which Teller recalls his earliest memories.
72. "Hungary's Orban courts diaspora for election boost". France 24. 28 March 2018. Retrieved 7 December 2021.
73. "Viktor Orbán courts voters beyond 'fortress Hungary'". POLITICO. August 22, 2017.
74. "Hungarians Outside EU Cast Votes for Fidesz". May 29, 2019.

External links

Media related to Hungarian diaspora at Wikimedia Commons