Population and vital events

In December 2021, 7,336 children were born and 16,106 people died according to preliminary data. Compared to December 2020, the number of live births was up by 1.8% and that of deaths decreased by 6.1%. 4,320 couples got married, which was 30% more than in December 2020.

It is exceptionally important to us to provide more up-to-date information on the social and economic developments in our country, in addition to our regular and detailed publications.
Our WEEKLY MONITOR provides insights into trends in key areas through weekly, monthly and quarterly data from our interactive chart collection.
Most WEEKLY MONITOR charts can also be downloaded in image and data formats (PNG, SVG and CSV).

Our publication, also highlighting the main effects of the pandemic, gives an overview of the social and economic trends in Hungary in 2020, including a 5% drop in GDP, putting us in the middle of the EU ranking, taking into use 28,000 new homes, the highest number since 2009, a nearly threefold increase in the share of people working remotely or from home as compared to the average for the past 10 years, a 42% increase in the value of mail order and internet retailing, and fewer accidents on the roads.

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.

The dissemination database’s data groups for settlements and for Budapest districts were updated with further data, referring to 2020, so settlement- and district-level 2020 data on resident population by sex and by age group, as well as on live births, deaths, marriages and internal migration among others are available from 7 September.

141 thousand people died in Hungary in 2020, a more than 11 thousand larger number of persons than a year earlier. The most – nearly 66 thousand – people died owing to diseases of the circulatory system according to the underlying cause of death, which was a rise on earlier years. The number of people having died of tumorous diseases (32.5 thousand people), considered as the second most frequent cause of death, hardly changed compared to one year earlier (–0.6%). 8,981 people lost their lives due to Covid-19, also emerging in Hungary in March 2020.

In 2020 the coronavirus pandemic largely influenced vital events, primarily including the number of deaths and divorces and the direction of changes in residence. The number of deaths increased significantly and that of births slightly; therefore, natural decrease rose by 20% compared to previous year. Taking the 9,100 person surplus of international immigration and emigration into consideration, the population of the country fell by 39.6 thousand. The number of marriages increased by 3.1%.