Hungary, a country of 93 029 square kilometres and 10 142 362 people (on 1st January 2003), celebrated in 1996 the 1 100th anniversary of its foundation. Owing to its central location on the Danube in the Carpathian Basin, Hungary forms an important link in Europe between east and west and between north and south. Its main geographic regions are Transdanubia to the west of the Danube ; the Great Plain east of the Danube; and the mountainous area in the north.
The Republic of Hungary consists of the capital - Budapest - and 19 counties, with 3 145 settlements (256 towns and 2 889 villages). The capital and its districts, the towns and the villages each have their independent local governing bodies. Regional governments operate at the county level.
The origin of the county system dates back to the 11th century. Before World War I, there were more than 70 counties but two-thirds of Hungary 's land area was annexed to neighbouring countries in the peace treaties that followed the war. The borders of the present counties were fixed during the administrative reform that followed the 1949 Constitution, when the number of counties was reduced from 25 to 19.
The local and county governing bodies are independent; there is no hierarchical relationship between them. Their rights as well as their respective responsibilities are set out in the Self Government Act.
There are macro and micro regional levels in Hungary . The EU-NUTS-conform regional classification was completed on 20th March 1998 whose units were on 1st May 2004 as follows:
NUTS 1 statistical large regions ................. 3
NUTS 2 planning-statistical region ............. 7
NUTS 3 counties + capital ................. 19 +1
LAU 1 statistical subregions .............. ... 168
LAU 2 settlements (towns + villages) .. 3 145
Regional differences in Hungary are characterised by the overwhelming dominance of the capital, Budapest - a metropolis where almost one fifth of the country's population lives - and by the rapid development of the western parts of the country as opposed to the more or less stagnating east. These differences have increased since the process of transition to a market economy started in 1989, after four decades of the centrally planned and ruled economy. This transition is still underway; Hungary is a rapidly changing country both in terms of its economy and its society.
