The Hungarian diaspora (Hungarian: magyar diaszpóra) comprises the total ethnic Hungarian population located outside current-day Hungary.

There are two main groups of the 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.

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

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

Copyright.sk © 2024

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	Katalin Karikó	Biochemist and Nobel Prize winner
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]
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