Hungary

The Republic of Hungary is located in Central Europe bordering Romania, Slovakia, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Ukraine, and Serbia. It is slightly smaller than Indiana and covers an area of 93,030 sq. kilometers. Hungary’s total population is about 9.94 million and shrinking at about 0.2% with 69.5% living in urban areas. The Hungarian capital of Budapest has a population of about 2 million with other major cities including Debrecen (220,000), Miskolc (208,000), Szeged (189,000), and Pecs (183,000). The people are ruled by a parliamentary democracy, are mostly Roman Catholic, and their primary language is Hungarian. Hungary joined NATO in 1999 and joined the EU in 2004. The local currency used is the Hungarian Forint with future plans to eventually adopt the Euro.

Hungary has gone through a period of economic transition from centrally planned to a market economy. Its economy is still at a level below other European powers, but foreign ownership and investment are widespread throughout Hungarian firms. Its main trade partners are mostly in the EU including, Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Netherlands, UK, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, and also include Russia and China. Its primary imports are machinery and equipment, other manufacturers, food products, raw materials, and fuels and electricity. Exports consist of machinery and equipment, other manufacturers, food products, raw materials, and fuels and electricity. Hungary’s GDP (Purchasing Power Parity) is $198 billion and is shrinking at a real rate of 1.7% with an inflation rate of 5.7%. Hungary ranked 54th out of 185 countries in the World Bank Group’s Ease of Doing Business Ranking. 

Click the links below for articles with more information on Franchising in Hungary

Doing Business in Hungary(2013)

Reform of European Union Rules on Distribution(2010)

European Commission's New Block Exemption Rules Enter into Force June 1(2010)

Picking the Best European Countries for Franchising(2009)

* CPI Scores published by Transparency International and relates to the perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts and ranges between 100 (highly clean) and 0 (highly corrupt).

**Ease of Doing Business Ranking is determined by the World Bank Group and is ranked out of a possible 185 countries. www.doingbusiness.org

Most recent statistics have been taken from the CIA World Factbook unless noted otherwise.