The volume of Hungary’s retail sales grew by 0.5% month on month in March, according to data adjusted seasonally and by calendar effects, the Central Statistical Office (KSH) reported. In annual terms, sales in retail shops increased by 0.9%.

Last year, there were 6.3 percent less births than the year before while the number of deaths remained steady, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Monday, quoting preliminary data.

Hungary's population dropped below 10 million in August this year, the Central Statistical Office reported. Without the positive effects of migration, this would have occured earlier.

Less children were born in Hungary in the first half of 2010 than a year before but the number of deaths was also lower. Statisticians calculate that immigration helped the Hungarian population to be slightly over 10 million.

In the first six months of this year, real wages in Hungary were up by 3.7% year on year. Over the same period, consumer prices increased by 5.7%. According to data released by the Central Statistical Office the number of people employed in Hungary in the first half of 2010 was 2 million 671,000.