THE MAIN CORRELATIONS DETERMINING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUNGARIAN POPULATION IN THE CARPATHIAN BASIN (A Karpat-medencei magyar nepesedesi folyamatokat meghatarozo fobb osszefuggesek)

• Authors: Toth Pal Peter
• Languages of publication: HU

Abstracts

EN

Up to 1918, the Hungarian population development in the Carpathian-basin was determined by two interrelated and interdependent processes. One component of the process is determined by the fertility level of the Hungarian people, modified continuously by mortality. The other element altering and complementing the effects of (Hungarian) fertility and mortality is an external one, namely, the number of assimilated non-Hungarians (local non-Hungarians or migrants) and their descendants. The collapse of the Hungarian Kingdom and the military and civic casualties of World War I resulted in radical changes also in the Hungarian population development. As a result of this 3.2 million ethnic Hungarians became the citizens of the neighbouring countries without ever changing their residence. On the territory of Hungary with newly set up boundaries, the principles of population development before 1918 were scarcely or not at all functioning, and population replacement from non-Hungarians was not working any more. After these changes the inner migration resulted mainly in territorial reorganization of the population and aims at contributing to the modernization. In the new social standing the role of international migration in population replacement has also changed: Hungary becomes a target country mainly just for Hungarians living outside of its new territory as a result of peace treaties, and this tendency persists up to the present. The present day migrants coming from foreign countries are not increasing the number of the Hungarian population, just enlarge the number of ethnic Hungarians living in the present-day territory of Hungary, and increase also the total population number of Hungary. As a result, there is a speeding up tendency, persisting up to the moment, to be simply characterized by the concentration of Hungarians leaving the neighbouring countries and coming to the current territory of Hungary. Logically, the decrease in the population number of sending communities has accelerated (undermined further by the surplus in mortality and lack of assimilation of non-Hungarians), causing the shrinking of territories inhabited by ethnic Hungarians outside of Hungary, and giving rise to an ethnically more and more homogenous population on the territory of Hungary. In the long run, this can bring about the demographical weakening of ethnic Hungarians living in their ancestral land in eight countries neighbouring Hungary, endangering even their survival.

Keywords

EN

AGEING; ASSIMILATION; FERTILITY; INNER AND INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION; MORTALITY; NON-HUNGARIANS; POPULATION DEVELOPMENT

Discipline

• SOCIOLOGY: SOCIOLOGY

• Publisher: Department of Economics and Law, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Tarsadalomkutatas (Social Science Research)
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 27
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 49-71
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Toth Pal Peter

• Pal Peter Toth, Central Statistical Institute (for postal address contact the journal editor)

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

10HUAAAA07844