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Hungary POPULATION
Since World War II, Hungary has exhibited several
population
trends that parallel those in other advanced societies.
Population leveled off after the war and even began to
decline.
The birth rate fell, and people flocked from the
countryside to
the cities, especially to the major urban areas.
Historical Trends
Trianon Hungary emerged from World War I with reduced
borders
roughly coterminous with Hungary's present-day borders. In
1920
Hungary had about 8 million inhabitants, and by 1941 the
population had grown to approximately 9.3 million (see
table 2,
Appendix). But the country lost about 5 percent of its
population
in World War II, so as of 1949 the population was only
about 8.8
million. Thereafter, the growth rate of the population
fluctuated
substantially. Until the mid-1950s, high fertility and
declining
mortality caused rapid population growth. In 1954 the
highest
postwar live-birth rate was reached, at 23 births per
1,000
population. Subsequently, until the mid-1960s the birth
rate
declined, but the mortality rate was also low. In the late
1960s
and early 1970s, the birth rate again rose, partly because
of
demographic measures introduced by the government in 1967
and
1973
(see Health and Welfare
, this ch.). Because the
overall
population had begun to age, the mortality rate also
increased
during this period, but it was counterbalanced by the
higher rate
of live births.
Data as of September 1989
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