Hungarian Cities Losing Population

The population of Budapest fell by almost 13,000 in 2020, and there were fewer people living in the county capitals in January 2021 than a year before. In the agglomerations of the cities concerned, however, many settlements grew.

At the same time, as a sudy by the real estate site ingatlan.com suggests, many settlements in the agglomerations of the affected cities grew.

The shrinkage of the larger cities has been accompanied by an increase in the size of the municipalities in their catchment areas – the situation is essentially the same across the country.

According to national data, the municipalities with the highest population growth are dominated by those close to the capital, i.e. in the Budapest agglomeration. It is important to note, however, that the expansion includes not only out-migration but also natural growth, i.e. the difference between births and deaths, and address registrations for other reasons.

The population of Budapest fell by almost 13,000 in 2020. The population in the capital has been falling for the fifth year running, with the last increase in the number of people living in Budapest being between January 2015 and January 2016. The decline in the metropolitan population is partly due to out-migration to the agglomeration zones, which is also due to the rise in housing prices in the metropolitan areas.