Counties of Hungary

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Updates: 

Update 15 to the GEC, the successor to the FIPS standard, is dated 2014-03-31. The only change shown for Hungary is to the exact shape of the accent mark on the o in Salgótarján.

I acquired 2011 population data from source [2]. I also updated the areas from that source, which differed only slightly from what I had before.

Newsletter II-12, an update to the ISO 3166-2 standard, says that Hungary has dropped "Republic" from its formal or long-form name.

Newsletter II-2 to ISO 3166-2 was dated 2010-06-30. FIPS PUB 10-4 Change Notice 13 was issued on 2008-02-04. They both assigned new codes for Érd urban county, which was formed in 2006.

FIPS 10-4 Change Notice 12, dated 2007-06-11, has FIPS codes for the urban counties created in 1995.

New NUTS codes for Hungary were issued on 2004-09-15.

Country overview: 

Short nameHUNGARY
ISO codeHU
FIPS codeHU
LanguageHungarian (hu)
Time zone+1 ~
CapitalBudapest

 

In 1900, Hungary was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A much smaller, independent Hungary, almost equivalent to the present-day country, emerged from the peace negotiations at the end of World War I. Hungary reconquered some of its old ground as World War II began, but its defeat cancelled all its gains.

At different times, Hungary has had varying numbers of urban counties. These are administrative divisions that appear geographically to be cities, but that are treated administratively as counties. Budapest has been of this type for the whole of the twentieth century. Others have come and gone. In 1921, there were thirty-five ordinary counties and twelve urban counties. In 1950, a territorial reform eliminated all of the urban counties. In 1954, four of them were created; in 1971, they were all abolished again. There were five of them in 1991. An additional 15 were created by 1993, and two more (making 22 in all) by 1996. In reference works, the urban counties are sometimes ignored, or treated as if they were part of the surrounding ordinary county.

Other names of country: 

  1. Danish: Ungarn
  2. Dutch: Hongarije, Republiek Hongarije (formal)
  3. English: Hungarian Republic (formal)
  4. Finnish: Unkari
  5. French: Hongrie f
  6. German: Ungarn n
  7. Hungarian: Magyarország, Magyar Köztársaság (formal)
  8. Icelandic: Ungverjaland
  9. Italian: Ungheria f
  10. Norwegian: Ungarn, Republikken Ungarn (formal)
  11. Portuguese: Hungria, República f da Hungria f (formal)
  12. Russian: Венгерская Республика (formal), Венгрия
  13. Spanish: Hungría, República f de Hungría f (formal)
  14. Swedish: Ungern
  15. Turkish: Macaristan Cumhuriyeti (formal)

Origin of name: 

from Turkish Onogur: ten tribes, referring to tribes which later settled in Hungary

Primary subdivisions: 

Hungary is divided into nineteen megyék (sing. megye; counties), one föváros (capital city), and 23 megyei jogu város (urban counties, county boroughs, cities of county right).

DivisionHASCISOFIPSNUTSTypPopulationArea(km.˛)Area(mi.˛)Capital or county
Bács-Kiskun HU.BKBKHU01HU331m408,920 8,122 3,136 Kecskemét
Baranya HU.BABAHU02HU231m230,392 4,267 1,647 Pécs
Békés HU.BEBEHU03HU332m297,898 5,436 2,099 Békéscsaba
Békéscsaba HU.BCBCHU26HU332v62,050 194 75 (Békés)
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén HU.BZBZHU04HU311m518,512 7,013 2,708 Miskolc
Budapest HU.BUBUHU05HU101f1,729,040525 203 Budapest
Csongrád HU.CSCSHU06HU333m203,361 3,494 1,349 Szeged
Debrecen HU.DEDEHU07HU321v211,320 462 178 (Hajdú-Bihar)
Dunaújváros HU.DUDUHU27HU211v48,484 53 20 (Fejér)
Eger HU.EGEGHU28HU312v56,569 92 36 (Heves)
Érd HU.EDERHU43HU102v63,631 61 23 (Pest)
Fejér HU.FEFEHU08HU211m276,793 4,135 1,596 Székesfehérvár
Győr HU.GYGYHU25HU221v129,527 175 67 (Győr-Moson-Sopron)
Győr-Moson-SopronHU.GSGSHU09HU221m257,910 3,864 1,492 Győr
Hajdú-Bihar HU.HBHBHU10HU321m335,401 5,749 2,220 Debrecen
Heves HU.HEHEHU11HU312m252,313 3,545 1,369 Eger
Hódmezővásárhely HU.HVHVHU29HU333v46,047 488 188 (Csongrád)
Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok HU.JNJNHU20HU322m313,641 5,394 2,083 Szolnok
Kaposvár HU.KVKVHU30HU232v66,245 114 44 (Somogy)
Kecskemét HU.KMKMHU31HU331v111,411 323 125 (Bács-Kiskun)
Komárom-Esztergom HU.KEKEHU12HU212m236,815 2,173 839 Tatabánya
Miskolc HU.MIMIHU13HU311v167,754 237 91 (Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén)
Nagykanizsa HU.NKNKHU32HU223v49,026 148 57 (Zala)
Nógrád HU.NONOHU14HU313m165,165 2,445 944 Salgótarján
Nyíregyháza HU.NYNYHU33HU323v119,746 275 106 (Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg)
Pécs HU.PSPSHU15HU231v156,049 163 63 (Baranya)
Pest HU.PTPEHU16HU102m1,153,8456,331 2,444 Budapest
Salgótarján HU.STSTHU41HU313v37,262 101 39 (Nógrád)
Somogy HU.SOSOHU17HU232m249,892 5,922 2,287 Kaposvár
Sopron HU.SNSNHU34HU221v60,548 169 65 (Győr-Moson-Sopron)
Szabolcs-Szatmár-BeregHU.SZSZHU18HU323m439,526 5,661 2,186 Nyíregyháza
Szeged HU.SDSDHU19HU333v168,048 281 108 (Csongrád)
Székesfehérvár HU.SFSFHU35HU211v100,570 171 66 (Fejér)
Szekszárd HU.SSSSHU42HU233v34,296 96 37 (Tolna)
Szolnok HU.SKSKHU36HU322v72,953 187 72 (Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok)
Szombathely HU.SHSHHU37HU222v78,884 98 38 (Vas)
Tatabánya HU.TBTBHU38HU212v67,753 91 35 (Komárom-Esztergom)
Tolna HU.TOTOHU21HU233m196,065 3,607 1,393 Szekszárd
Vas HU.VAVAHU22HU222m177,745 3,239 1,250 Szombathely
Veszprém HU.VEVEHU23HU213m291,347 4,366 1,686 Veszprém
Veszprém HU.VMVMHU39HU213v61,721 127 49 (Veszprém)
Zala HU.ZAZAHU24HU223m173,654 3,533 1,364 Zalaegerszeg
Zalaegerszeg HU.ZEZEHU40HU223v59,499 102 40 (Zala)
43 divisions 9,937,62893,02635,918
  • HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes.
  • ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2.
  • FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4.
  • NUTS: Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics.
  • Typ: m = county, f = capital city, v = urban county.
  • Population: 2011-10-01 census (source [2]).
  • Capital or county: Names in parentheses are the counties in which these cities were
    located before being made into county boroughs.
  • Post codes: Hungarian postal codes are four digits. Postal codes for Hungarian addresses
    can be identified by prefixing them with "H-".

Further subdivisions:

Until 1984, the top-level divisions of Hungary were counties and urban counties; the second-level divisions were jaras (districts); below these were közseg (councils, villages). The number of each type of division varied in successive reforms. On 1984-01-01, the districts were done away with, replaced by 105 town-regions and 34 large villages with town rank.

The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics is a set of hierarchical region codes administered by Eurostat. Now that Hungary has joined the European Union, codes are being assigned to it. Hungary has three divisions at the NUTS-1 level, called Statisztikai nagyrégiók; seven divisions at the NUTS-2 level, called Tervezési-statisztikai régiók; and twenty divisions at the NUTS-3 level, which are the counties and capital city. If the last digit or last two digits of a county's NUTS-3 code are removed, the result is the NUTS-2 or NUTS-1 code for the statistical region which contains that county. The regions at these NUTS levels are shown in the following tables.

NUTSStatistical region
HU1Közép-Magyarország
HU2Dunántúl
HU3Alföld és Észak

 

NUTSStatistical regionHungarian
HU10Central HungaryKözép-Magyarország
HU21Central TransdanubiaKözép-Dunántúl
HU22Western TransdanubiaNyugat-Dunántúl
HU23Southern TransdanubiaDél-Dunántúl
HU31Northern HungaryÉszak-Magyarország
HU32Northern Great PlainÉszak-Alföld
HU33Southern Great PlainDél-Alföld

Territorial extent: 

In 1990, Budapest capital city was an enclave entirely surrounded by Pest county. Likewise, the urban counties of Debrecen, Pécs, and Szeged were enclaves within their respective counties. The creation of new urban counties since then may have changed this state of affairs.

The UN LOCODE page  for Hungary lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Origins of names: 

  1. Budapest: the cities Buda and Pest were united in 1872.
  2. Győr: after Jewr, a man's name
  3. Hódmezővásárhely: Hungarian hód: beaver, mező: field, vásár: fair, hely: place
  4. Transylvania: Latin trans: beyond, silva: forest (i.e. the land beyond the forest, although earlier called simply Erdély, Hungarian for forested land)

Change history: 

Before World War I, the Kingdom of Hungary was one of the major divisions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Kingdom of Hungary consisted of Hungary proper, the province of Croatia and Slavonia, and the tiny province of Fiume (Rijeka). The eastern part of Hungary, now in Romania, was called Transylvania. Hungary was subdivided into 64 comitate (counties):

CountyCapitalModern
Abauj-TornaKassa (Kaschau, Košice SK)SK,HU
Also-Feher (Unter-Weissenburg)Nagy-Enyed (Strassburg, Aiud RO)RO+
ÁradÁrad RORO
ÁrvaKubin (Dolný Kubín SK)SK
Bács-BodrogZombor (Sombor YU)YU,HU
BaranyaPécs HU (Fünfkirchen)HU,HR
BarsAranyos-Marot (Zlaté Marovce SK)SK
BekesGyula HUHU
BeregBeregszász (Beregove UA)UA,HU
Besztercze Naszod (Bistritz)Besztercze (Bistritz, Bistriţa RO)RO+
BiharNagy-Várad (Großwardein, Oradea RO)RO,HU
BorsodMiskolc HUHU
Brasso (Kronstadt)Brasso (Kronstadt, Braşov RO)RO+
BudapestBudapest HUHU
CsanádMakó HUHU
CsikCsik Szereda (Miercurea-Ciuc RO)RO+
CsongrádSzegedin (Szeged HU)HU,YU
Esztergom (Gran)Esztergom HU (Gran)HU
FogarasFogaras (Făgăras RO)RO+
GömörRima Szombath (Rimavská Sobota SK)SK,HU
Györ (Raab)Györ HU (Raab)HU,SK
Hajdu (Hajduken)Debrecen HUHU
HáromszékSepsi-Szent-Győrgy (Sfîntu Gheorghe RO)RO+
HevesEger HU (Erlau)HU
HontIpolyság (Šahy SK)SK,HU
HunyadDeva RORO+
Jász-Nagykun-SzolnokSzolnok HUHU
Kis-KüküllöElisabethstadt (Dumbrăveni RO)RO+
Kolozsvár (Klausenburg)Kolozsvár (Klausenburg, Cluj-Napoca RO)RO+
Komárom (Komorn)Komárom (Komorn, Komarno SK)HU,SK
Krasso-SzörényLugos (Lugoj RO)RO
Lipto (Liptau)Lipto-Szent-Miklos (Liptau, Liptov Mikuláš SK)SK
Máramaros (Mármaros)Máramaros-Sziget (Sighetu Marmaţiei RO)UA,RO
Maros-TordaMaros-Vásárhely (Neumarkt am Maros, Tîrgu Mures RO)RO+
Mozsony (Wieselburg)Ungarisch-Altenburg (Mosonmagyaróvar HU)HU,AT,SK
Nagy-KüküllöSegesvár (Schäßburg, Sighisoara RO)RO+
Nógrád (Neograd)Balassagyarmat HUSK,HU
Nyitra (Neutra)Nyitra (Neutra, Nitra SK)SK
Pest-Pilis-Solt-KiskunBudapest HUHU
Pozsony (Preßburg)Pozsony (Preßburg, Bratislava SI)SK
SarosEperies (Preschau, Prešov SK)SK
SomogyKaposvar HUHU
Sopron (Ödenburg)Sopron HU (Ödenburg)HU,AT
SzabolcsNyíregyháza HUHU
SzatmarNagy-Károly (Carei RO)RO,HU
Szeben (Hermannstadt)Nagy-Szeben (Hermannstadt, Sibiu RO)RO+
Székes-Fejervár (Stuhlweißenburg)Székes-Fejervár (Stuhlweißenburg, Székesfehérvar HU)HU
Szepes (Zips)Leutschau (Locse, Levoča SK)SK
SzilágyZilah (Zalău RO)RO
Szolnok-DobokaDes (Dej RO)RO+
TemesTemesvar (Timişoara RO)RO,YU
Tolna (Tolnau)Szegszárd (Szekszard HU)HU
Torda-AranyosTorda (Thörenburg, Turda RO)RO+
TorontálNagy-Becskerek (Zrenjanin YU)YU,RO,HU
TrencsenTrencsen (Trenschin, Trenčin SK)SK
Turocz (Turoz)Turócz-Szent-Marton (Turoz-Sankt-Martin, Martin SK)SK
UdvarhelySzent Egyhazas-Olahfalu (Odorheiu Secuiesc RO)RO+
UgocsaNagy-Szöllös (Vynogradiv UA)UA,RO
UngUngvár (Uzhgorod UA)UA,SK
Vasvár (Eisenburg)Szombathely HU (Steinamanger)HU,AT,SI
VeszprémVeszprém HUHU
ZalaZala-Egerszeg HUHU,HR
ZemplenSátoraljaúhely HUSK,HU
Zólyom (Sohl)Besztercze-Banya (Neusohl, Banská Bystrica SK)SK
  • County: county name in Hungarian, followed by German equivalent in parentheses, if any.
  • Capital: county town in Hungarian, followed by German equivalent and modern vernacular
    name, if different. The modern name is always immediately followed by the ISO code for
    the country in which the county town now lies.
  • Modern: ISO codes for the countries which now occupy part or all of the county territory,
    listed in descending order of share. AT=Austria, HR=Croatia, HU=Hungary, RO=Romania,
    SI=Slovenia, SK=Slovakia, UA=Ukraine, YU=Yugoslavia. The + sign indicates counties in
    Transylvania.
  1. 1920-06-04: The Treaty of Trianon reduced Hungary to approximately its present area. No change was made to the counties. Many of them were now divided between two or more countries by the newly drawn borders.
  2. 1923: Hungary reorganized into 25 counties. Their relationship to the pre-war counties listed above is as follows. Cities shown in parentheses are capitals of the new counties, where they differ from the pre-war capitals. Bekes, Budapest, Hajdu, Heves, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun, Somogy, Szabolcs, Tolna, and Veszprém were essentially unchanged. Székes-Fejervár was renamed Fejér, but otherwise unchanged. Bács-Bodrog (Baja), Baranya, Bihar (Berettyóújfalu), Csongrád, Sopron, Zala, and Zemplen lost fragments of their territory, but were otherwise unchanged. Two counties lost part of their territory and part of their names: Abauj-Torna was renamed Abaúj (Szikszó), and Vasvár was renamed Vas. Finally, a number of county fragments merged with their neighbors. Borsod merged with the part of Gömör that remained in Hungary to form Borsod-Gömör (Miskolc); Csanád merged with part of Torontál to form Csanád (Makó); parts of Györ and Mozsony merged to form Győr-Moson (Győr); parts of Komárom and Esztergom merged to form Komárom-Esztergom (Esztergom); parts of Nógrád and Hont merged to form Nógrád-Hont (Balassagyarmat); and parts of Szatmar and Bereg merged to form Szatmár-Bereg (Mátészalka).
  3. 1938-11-02: Strip of territory in southern Slovakia transferred to Hungary.
  4. 1939-03-23: Carpatho-Ukraine (also known as Ruthenia) annexed by Hungary.
  5. ~1940: Hungary annexed about 20% of Rumania.
  6. 1945-01-20: Borders of Hungary as of 1938-01-01 restored by armistice agreement.
  7. 1947-02-10: Small (61 sq. km.) area west of the Danube near Bratislava transferred to Czechoslovakia.
  8. 1950: Under the new Constitution of 1949 and the Council Act of 1950, Hungary reorganized from 25 counties and one capital city to 19 counties and one capital city, thus: Budapest enlarged by annexation of surrounding suburbs in Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun county; Bács-Kiskun county formed from southern half of Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun and all of Bács-Bodrog; Békés county formed from almost all of old Békés county plus fragments of Bihar, Csongrád, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, and eastern half of Csanád; Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county formed from Borsod-Gömör, Abaúj, and Zemplén; western half of Csanád county annexed to Csongrád; Győr-Sopron county formed by merging Győr-Moson with Sopron; Hajdú-Bihar county formed by merging Bihar and Hajdú; Komárom-Esztergom county renamed to Komárom; Nógrád county formed from Nógrád-Hont by removing a strip of land on the west and annexing a strip from Heves on the east; Pest county formed from northern half of Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun plus a fragment of Nógrád-Hont; name of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county changed to Szolnok; Szabolcs-Szatmár county formed by merging Szabolcs and Szatmár-Bereg, minus a fragment which was annexed by Hajdú-Bihar; a sizable chunk of Zala county transferred to Vesprém; along with many minor border adjustments.
  9. 1954: The urban counties of Debrecen, Miskolc, Pécs, and Szeged created (by splitting them from their former counties, resp. Hajdú-Bihar, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Baranya, and Csongrád).
  10. 1971: The four urban counties merged with the ordinary counties surrounding them.
  11. ~1975: Five urban counties created: the same four as in 1954, plus Győr.
  12. 1990: Győr-Sopron county renamed to Győr-Moson-Sopron; Komárom county renamed to Komárom-Esztergom; Szabolcs-Szatmár county renamed to Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg; Szolnok county renamed to Jász-Nagykún-Szolnok.
  13. ~1992: Fifteen more urban counties created.
  14. ~1995: Two more urban counties, Salgótarján and Szekszárd, created.
  15. 2004-05-01: Hungary joined the European Union.
  16. 2006-07-11: Érd urban county split from Pest county. Before the split, the HASC code for Pest was HU.PE. Its 2001 population was 1,083,877, and its area was 6,394 km˛.

Other names of subdivisions: 

  1. Budapest: Boedapest (Dutch); Budapeste (Portuguese); Будапешт (Russian)
  2. Bács-Kiskun: Bács-Bodrog-Kiskun (variant)
  3. Győr-Moson-Sopron: Győr-Sopron (obsolete)
  4. Jász-Nagykún-Szolnok: Szolnok (obsolete)
  5. Komárom-Esztergom: Komárom (obsolete)
  6. Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg: Szabolcs-Szatmár (obsolete)
  7. Transylvania: Siebenbürgen (German); Transilvania (Italian); Transylvanie (French)

Population history:

County187018801890190019101920193019411949-01-011960-01-011970-01-011980-01-011990-01-012001-02-012011-10-01
Bács-Kiskun324,625346,863393,205435,363485,919500,638544,201575,215591,482589,744570,064571,448546,898546,517520,331
Baranya265,069273,615299,901313,174328,902313,469337,698353,426356,533395,342421,765432,617417,400407,448386,441
Békés284,589310,266356,665389,095417,127436,348465,557477,240471,561467,861438,971436,910411,887397,791359,948
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén382,264373,830408,174469,681513,193535,588585,154633,105630,621725,303776,750809,468761,963744,404686,266
Budapest302,086402,706560,079861,4341,110,4531,232,0261,442,8691,712,7911,590,3161,804,6062,001,0832,059,2262,016,6811,777,9211,729,040
Csongrád269,803286,636327,273363,821395,361407,831426,374434,749429,083434,046445,220456,300438,842433,344417,456
Fejér205,320218,719231,548245,510259,558271,682280,707295,683295,750357,897391,272420,317418,852434,317425,847
Győr-Moson-Sopron258,345274,686289,308315,431330,643350,040366,608383,764369,336396,401409,609433,551428,153434,706447,985
Hajdú-Bihar281,350289,311322,286364,908406,290426,465467,257496,009498,271522,787524,952551,448548,728552,998546,721
Heves205,146203,338227,156249,354275,181292,290312,085319,043316,273347,856340,146350,360334,408325,727308,882
Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok276,760298,655341,335375,134399,153413,593440,808453,038449,551461,307437,879445,624425,583415,917386,594
Komárom-Esztergom115,684124,203132,589151,155167,310179,565192,253212,928220,914270,810304,461322,893316,984316,590304,568
Nógrád125,522123,261141,314159,266174,155185,217200,438211,253214,757235,675234,430240,251227,137220,261202,427
Pest330,089353,851395,142450,136524,320571,753633,257682,696686,953781,505878,644973,830949,8421,083,8771,217,476
Somogy254,060272,620290,063306,337327,115331,993347,942354,125361,213368,183357,009360,270344,708335,237316,137
Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg299,441288,327329,131384,060418,482435,119502,136546,639558,098586,451565,557593,829572,301582,256559,272
Tolna224,918239,231257,380258,748273,218268,954272,641276,569275,644272,101258,760266,273253,675249,683230,361
Vas179,738198,533216,087240,362260,427275,537281,848286,381283,070282,728277,619285,498275,944268,123256,629
Veszprém234,342241,517253,729260,173269,694271,936283,927306,693299,940343,296362,678382,052378,439373,794353,068
Zala192,159209,023236,986261,273275,613286,831301,349304,727305,433317,145304,127317,298306,398297,404282,179
Totals5,011,3105,329,1916,009,3516,854,4157,612,1147,986,8758,685,1099,316,0749,204,7999,961,04410,300,99610,709,46310,374,82310,198,3159,937,628

 

Notes: Figures are proleptic to present-day borders of counties. Data from 1870 to 1960 are described as "present population"; from 1970 on, they are "resident population". Populations of urban counties are combined with the counties they are contained in.

Sources: 

  1. [1] The Hungarian Central Statistical Office  site contained areas and populations for the counties and urban counties from the 2001 census, and the population history for counties back to 1870 (retrieved 2005-08-23).
  2. [2] Population Census 2011: Detailed Tables . Hungarian Central Statistical Office (retrieved 2014-03-20).
  3. [3] Territory and Administration in Europe. Robert Bennett, ed. Pinter Publishers, London and New York, 1989.
  4. [4] Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States 1992. Europa Publications Ltd., London, 1992.
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