The Hungarians do not belong to the great Indo-European family which, with the exception of the Finns alone, includes all the other current residents of Europe; in fact they descend from the Magyars, Asians included in the ethno-linguistic group of the Ugro-Finns, whose language they have preserved as well as various cultural traits, still traceable in the rich Hungarian folklore. The Magyars arrived in Europe quite recently; in today’s Hungary – which had previously been populated by Celts, therefore subject to the dominion of the Romans, architects of a wise territorial organization, later devastated by multiple invasions of Huns, Slavs etc. – they found wide steppe plains, similar to their lands of origin, and settled there, merging with the pre-existing Slavic and Latin elements and giving life to the end of the century. X to a well-organized state. This, immediately Christianized, over time continued to strengthen its ties with the rest of Europe, while maintaining deep original connotations and a strong attachment to national values, not even affected by Turkish and Habsburg rule; at the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, at the end of World War I, the country was practically defined in its current borders. However, during the Habsburg era, Hungary had made considerable economic progress, also reflected by the very strong growth of the population, which had risen from 2 million inhab. of the end of the century. XVIII to 6, 8 million residents of the end of the last century. Subsequently, also due to war losses, demographic developments were more contained; at the beginning of the 21st century. the population is around 10 million residents, and indeed has recorded a continuous natural decrease for over a decade, mainly due to the modest birth rate compared with a significantly higher mortality. The average life expectancy in the country is rather modest, if compared to other European Union countries: 68 years for men and 76 for women (2002). The modern ethnic composition sees a strong prevalence of Magyars (84%), with Roma minorities, Ruthenians, Germans, Romanians and Slovaks. More relevant is the number of Hungarians abroad (estimated at around 5 million), especially in neighboring countries (Romania and former Yugoslavia) and in the United States.
According to iamhigher, the population density is 108 residents / km 2(2002 estimate), and the rather homogeneous distribution, especially because the general morphological uniformity of the country has not created areas that are particularly repulsive to human allocation; among the areas of lowest density are the hilly and mountainous areas of Felföld and the driest regions of Alföld, which however in the last decades of the twentieth century. they were the scene of a massive agricultural colonization and then a new population. However, the race towards the cities is very strong: the urban population reached 68% in 2008, while it was only 40% in 1965. original, they are quite varied, both as a plant and as a size (generally there are small nuclei in the hilly areas and on the reliefs and villages that are often considerable in the plains): so next to the Slavic type centers, with long rows of houses aligned on the road, other villages they show small houses close together and centered on a large square (or a wide artery), from which numerous rather narrow streets radiate out. Once fortified and equipped with defensive walls, these villages, typical of Hungary, are believed to repeat the shape of the ancient nomadic encampments. The settlements and community structures determined by agricultural cooperatives and state-owned companies still dominate the Hungarian agricultural landscape, with large sheds for the storage of machinery, stables, warehouses, rather standardized housing.
The history of Budapest is three thousand years old; it was already a Celtic village, then the Roman Aquincum, a fortress on the borders of Pannonia, with a long-lasting military function also under the Habsburgs. Protected behind by hill rises and crossed by the Danube, which separates the two original nuclei, Buda and Pest (administratively united only in 1873, the year of the beginning of the great development of the city), Budapest owes its subsequent fortunes to its geographical position, being at the intersection of an important communication artery which, starting from the Adriatic, joins the Danube where the river flows into the plain. It represents a place of easy transit and therefore of extraordinary commercial importance in the heart of Europe, further enhanced by the construction of a dense radial railway network. Although rich in noble buildings, especially in the Buda section, which always attract large crowds of tourists, museums and cultural institutes, the capital has transformed into an industrial (mechanical, textile, food, etc.) and commercial metropolis in which it concentrates over a fifth of the total population if the surrounding metropolitan area is also considered. The growth of the population of Budapest is one of the major urban, social and economic problems of the country and mainly concerns the so-called “narrow periphery” of the city. The major centers, all with industrial and commercial functions and located on the great lines of communication that branch off from the capital, are: Pécs, the Roman Sopinae, famous for monuments, cultural importance (the first Hungarian university was founded there in 1367) and historical evidence, located in the southern end of the Transdanubia, halfway between the Danube and the Drava; Györ, located on the northern border of the region, represents the largest agglomeration of Kisalföld, mainly activated by industries; always in the northern belt, but in Felföld, Miskolc, on the eastern edge of the Monti Bükk, also an industrial center but also lively for trade, encouraged by the agricultural resources of the region, in Alföld, Szeged (Seghedino), overlooking the Tisza and Debrecen, located in a steppe, agricultural and pastoral area, near Romania, however, enhanced by the activation of multiple industries.
