Population and vital events

In January–October 2020, 4.7% more children were born and 1.5% fewer people died, as a result of which the natural decrease was 15% lower according to preliminary data than a year earlier. In October 2020, the number of live births rose to a relatively low extent and that of deaths at a considerably higher rate on the same month of 2019, so the natural decrease was up by 50%. There were 6.1% fewer live births and the number of deaths increased significantly, by 19% in October 2020 compared to the previous month, the natural decrease rising from 1,654 in September 2020 to 4,129 in October 2020.

Somewhat fewer children were born in Hungary in 2019 than a year earlier, but the total fertility rate increased. The number of deaths decreased, so the rate of population decrease slowed down. The number of marriages was the highest in 29 years, the balance of marriages became positive again. The annually published demographic yearbook includes detailed data on the composition of the population, on births, marriages, divorces, deaths, and the characteristics of migration.

Data related on settlements and districts of Budapest in the Dissemination database are updated twice this year, as such part of the 2019 serial settlement and district data, among others about settlement size, permanent, respectively resident population by sex and age groups, as well as live births, deaths, marriages, internal migration are available from 31 July, four months earlier than it was customary before.

The population of Hungary was 9,769 thousand on 1 January 2020, 3.3 thousand fewer than a year earlier. The number of deaths decreased at a higher pace than that of births, so the rate of natural decrease of the population decelerated in 2019. The positive balance of 37.1 thousand of international migration reduced significantly the natural decrease of the population. 21.9 thousand Hungarians moved abroad, while 23.2 thousand returned home. Substantially, 28% more couples entered into marriage, their number was the highest in the past 30 years.

7.5% less people died in the first 16 weeks of 2020 as a whole than in the same period last year. The number of deceased people was permanently lower in the first 11 weeks, but there was a slight surplus of deaths from the middle of March.
This weekly updated summary table of vital events includes data broken down by sex and age as well.

The coronavirus epidemic is particularly dangerous for the elderly, so we need to take better care of them during these weeks. More and more people are among the elderly: on 1 January 2019, nearly 1.9 million people aged 65 and over lived in Hungary, nearly one fifth of the population.