Official Name: Magyar Köztársaság (Republic of Hungary)

Area: Europe

Size: 93,030 km²

Coastline: Landlocked

Independence: from Austria-Hungary 1918 

Form of Govt.: Unitary multiparty republic

Head of Govt.: Prime Minister

Capital: Budapest                   

Largest City: Budapest

Demographics (2005): 10,076,581.    109 /km²

Hungarian 93%, Roma 2%, German 1.2%, Romanian 0.8%, Slovak 0.4%, Croatian 0.2%, Serbian 0.2%, Ukrainian 0.1%

GDP per Capita (2005): $16,823

Languages: Hungarian

Geography: Most of the country is flat with the exception of the low mountain ranges of the Bakony, Vertes and Philis Ranges of the Alps, which are located in the north central and northeastern sections of the country as well as to the north and south of Lake Balaton. They also separate the Little Hungarian Plain from the Transdanubian Downlands. The country is drained by the Danube River with its tributaries, the Tisza, Drava and Sava Rivers. To the east of the Danube River, floods are frequent in the Great or Alfold Plains region.

Climate: Hungary has a continental climate with considerable differences between summer and winter conditions, and rapid transitions from one season to the other. Spring and early summer are the wettest seasons with rainfall often occurring in heavy downpours. Winters are cold with snow cover lasting for long periods of around 30 to 40 days while the Danube River is also frozen over for long periods. Average annual precipitation is 640 mm while average annual temperature ranges in Budapest are from -4 to 1 degrees in January to 16 to 28 degrees in July.