The number of foreign citizens permanently living in Hungary has been increasing over the years. At the beginning of 2020, their number almost reached 200,000. We are not a melting pot by a long shot, but Hungary becomes more popular each year.
This number might not seem so high compared to other Western European countries, such as Germany, where currently over 10,000,000 people reside without German citizenship, Növekedés.hu reports. While foreign residents take up 12% of the German population,
in Hungary, about 2% of all residents of the country are of foreign nationality.
Why do foreigners come to live here?
In short, to work. The number of people wanting to work here increases dynamically.
Last year, 78,000 people resided in Hungary to get a job here, about half of them between the age of 20-39. Apart from work, studying and marriage are among the top reasons.
Hungary seems to be more popular among young people (aged 20-39), while people from older generations (aged 59 and above) only take up around 11% of all foreigners residing here. Population census data also reveals that the majority of foreigners coming to live in Hungary attended higher education.
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Most residents come from Germany, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, and China.
Germany being the odd one out. According to Növekedés.hu, the reason for this might be that several German companies with offices in Hungary promoted German nationals for higher management positions here.
Residents of Vietnamese, Chinese, and Turkish nationality operate their own businesses in the greatest number. In agreement with national trends, there are more male than female foreign residents in Hungary.
Most foreigners opt for Budapest when it comes to picking a city to live, but Pest County and the Transdanubian region are popular choices as well.