Hungary

C

Climate

Hungary has a relatively dry continental climate, with a wide range of temperatures throughout the year. Winters have several months of below-freezing temperatures. Summers are hot and are characterized by droughts alternating with violent storms. Much of the year’s rain falls in early summer, when heavy downpours frequently occur. Spring and fall are usually short, with the weather often unpredictable. The most rain tends to fall along Hungary’s western frontier.

The average daily temperature range in Budapest is -4° to 1°C (25° to 34°F) in January, and 16° to 28°C (61° to 82°F) in July; there is little regional variation in temperature. Budapest receives an average of about 610 mm (about 24 in) of precipitation each year.

D

Plant and Animal Life

Some 21 percent of Hungary is forested, mostly with oak, lime, beech, and other deciduous trees in the Transdanubian lands and mountains. Hare, fox, deer, and boar are abundant. Duck, heron, crane, and stork are native to the country, and the Great Hungarian Plain, which is mostly steppe, is a resting spot for many migrating species.

E

Natural Resources

Hungary’s principal natural resources are bauxite, the ore from which aluminum is made; lignite coal; and natural gas. The country also has deposits of hard coal and petroleum. Reserves of most minerals are small, however, and often of low quality. The minerals are found primarily in the mountains of northeastern Hungary.

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The alluvial soils of the Great Hungarian Plain are highly fertile, although inferior to the black earth in the southeastern and southern plain extending into Romania, Serbia, and Croatia. Soils in the northern highland river basins are generally fertile, but in much of Hungary the soil is either of a loose type, called loess, or sandy.

Northern Hungary lacks sufficient water, especially between July and October, when precipitation levels are typically low. Canals irrigate the Great Hungarian Plain, which is subject to drought. Because of the country’s mainly flat terrain, only limited water resources can be harnessed for hydroelectric power.

F

Environmental Issues

Rapid industrialization in Hungary following World War II contributed significantly to a number of major environmental problems, including air, water, and soil pollution. Emissions from automobiles and electric power plants have created most of the air pollution. A significant percentage of the country’s forests, waterways, and buildings suffer damage from acid rain, which is caused by sulfur dioxide in the air. Winds carry Hungary’s polluted air into neighboring countries, where it has caused similar problems.

River, lake, and groundwater pollution in Hungary are the result of industrial runoff, much of which is untreated when it enters the water. Insufficiently treated sewage also contributes to water pollution, as a large percentage of the country’s population does not have access to adequate sanitation facilities. Hungary’s Lake Balaton, the largest lake in central Europe, is severely polluted. Soils are also susceptible to pollution from chemical runoff from local industries. Because Hungary shares its major waterway, the Danube, with other European countries, pollution problems affecting neighboring countries often affect Hungary, as well, and vice versa.

In the worst environmental disaster since the Chernobyl’ nuclear accident in 1986, more than 100,000 cubic meters of water contaminated with cyanide burst through a dam at a mining works in northern Romania in January 2000. The water traveled 1,000 km (620 mi) through Yugoslavia and Hungary, where it entered the Danube and Tisza rivers, polluting drinking water in all three countries. The toxic cyanide wiped out the Tisza’s entire ecosystem in a matter of days—everything from microbes to otters.

Reforestation efforts have allowed the country to steadily gain forestland. About 6.8 percent (1997) of Hungary’s land was protected in parks and other reserves, preventing development but not the ill effects of acid rain and water pollution.

Hungary is party to international treaties concerning air pollution, biodiversity, climate change, endangered species, hazardous wastes, and wetlands.

III

The People of Hungary

The population of Hungary (2008 estimate) is 9,930,915. The overall population density is 108 persons per sq km (278 per sq mi). Urban areas are home to 66 percent of the population. Although Hungary was largely agricultural before World War II, people flooded into the cities from rural areas after the war.

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