Hungary faces 2 million population decline by 2060

Budapest, July 10 (MTI) – The population of Hungary is estimated to decline by 2 million by 2060, according to fresh data by the Central Statistical Office’s demographics team presented on Friday.

Hungary’s population has been on a declining curve since the 1980s and it dropped by 100,000 between the last census in 2011 and 2014, the data compiled in the KSH publication Demographic Portrait 2015 showed.

Hungary’s population is aging with more people in the older age groups, while there are fewer children. About one fifth of the population is past the age of 65 and only a seventh belongs to the age group of 15, the report said. The proportion of the 65+ population surpassed the below-15 group in 2006, it added.

The number of immigrants of foreign citizenship dropped over the past few years while the number of Hungarian immigrants born outside Hungary has increased significantly since 2011. This latter group consists mainly of people who now have dual citizenship.

The number of asylum-seekers in Hungary has risen substantially since 2013, like elsewhere in the EU, but the number of people with accepted refugee status remains below 500 a year, the report said.

Hungarians leave the country to seek jobs abroad in greater numbers since 2007 and the trend accelerated in 2011. In addition to original target countries like Germany and Austria, Great Britain is now among popular destinations. However, the pace of emigration has somewhat slowed down since 2013, data shows.