# Hungarian diaspora

There are two main groups of the Hungarian diaspora: the first group includes those who are autochthonous to their homeland and live outside Hungary since the border changes of the post-World War I Treaty of Trianon of 1920. The victorious forces redrew the borders of Hungary so that it runs through Hungarian-majority areas. As a consequence, 3.3 million Hungarians found themselves outside the new borders. Although those Hungarians are usually not included in the term "Hungarian diaspora", they are listed as such in this article. The other main group is the emigrants who left Hungary at various times (such as the Hungarian Revolution of 1956). There has been some emigration since Hungary joined the EU in 2004, especially to countries such as Germany, but those patterns have been less extensive than for certain other countries of Central Europe such as Poland and Slovakia.
Additionally, there is the Magyarab people, a small ethnic group located in Egypt and Sudan.

## Distribution by country

| Country | Hungarian population | Note | Article |
| Neighboring countries ||||
| Romania | 1,002,151 (2021) (excluding Csángós) | Native to Transylvania, Csángós in Western Moldavia (moved from Transylvania there in the past), and a very small community of Szeklers also in Bukovina (see also Székelys of Bukovina) | Hungarians in Romania |
| Slovakia | 456,154 (2021) | Autochthonous | Hungarians in Slovakia |
| Serbia | 184,442 (2021) | Autochthonous in Vojvodina | Hungarians in Serbia |
| Ukraine | 156,600 (2001) | Autochthonous in Zakarpattia Oblast | Hungarians in Ukraine |
| Austria | 107,347 (2024) | Autochthonous in Burgenland | Hungarians in Austria |
| Croatia | 10,315 (2021) | Autochthonous in Croatia, except in Istria and Dalmatia | Hungarians in Croatia |
| Slovenia | 10,500 (2021) | Autochthonous in Prekmurje | Hungarians in Slovenia |
| Other countries ||||
| United States | 1,563,081 (2006) | Immigrants | Hungarian Americans |
| Canada | 348,085 (2016) | Immigrants | Hungarian Canadians |
| Germany | 296,000 (2021) | Immigrants | Hungarians in Germany |
| Israel | 200,000 to 250,000 (2000s) | Immigrants; most are Hungarian Jews | |
| United Kingdom | 200,000 to 250,000 (2020) | Immigrants | Hungarians in the United Kingdom |
| France | 200,000 to 250,000 (2021) | Immigrants | Hungarians in France |
| Brazil | 80,000 (2002) | Immigrants | Hungarian Brazilians |
| Russia | 76,500 (2002) | Immigrants | Hungarians in Russia |
| Australia | 69,167 (2011) | Immigrants | Hungarian Australians |
| Argentina | 40,000 to 50,000 (2016) | Immigrants | Hungarian Argentines |
| Sweden | 33,018 (2018) | Immigrants | Hungarians in Sweden |
| Switzerland | 27,000 (2019) | Immigrants | |
| Netherlands | 26,172 (2020) | Immigrants | |
| Czech Republic | 20,000 (2013) | People of Hungarian descent forcibly relocated from the Slovak part of the Third Czechoslovak Republic | |
| Belgium | 15,000 (2013) | Immigrants | |
| Italy | 14,000 (2019) | Immigrants | |
| Spain | 10,000 (2019) | Immigrants | |
| Ireland | 9,000 (2019) | Immigrants | |
| Norway | 8,316 (2015) | Immigrants | |
| New Zealand | 7,000 (2013) | Immigrants | Hungarian New Zealanders |
| Turkey | 6,800 (2001) | Immigrants | Hungarians in Turkey |
| Denmark | 6,000 (2019) | Immigrants | |
| Japan | 5,600 (2022) | Immigrants | |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | 4,000 | Immigrants | |
| South Africa | 4,000 (2013) | Immigrants | |
| Venezuela | 4,000 (2013) | Immigrants | Hungarian Venezuelans |
| Mexico | 3,500 (2006) | Immigrants | Hungarian Mexicans |
| Finland | 3,000 (2019) | Immigrants | Hungarians in Finland |
| Uruguay | 3,000 (2013) | Immigrants | Hungarian Uruguayans |
| Greece | 2,387 (2018) | Immigrants | |
| Chile | 2,000 (2012) | Immigrants | Hungarians in Chile |
| Luxembourg | 2,000 (2019) | Immigrants | |
| Poland | 1,728 (2011) | Immigrants | Hungarians in Poland |
| Portugal | 1,230 (2022) | Foreign citizens only; for instance, excludes 79 Luso-Hungarians who have acquired Portuguese citizenship since 2008 | |
| Jordan | 1,000 (2019) | Immigrants | |
| Cyprus | 620 (2018) | Immigrants | |
| Kazakhstan | 500 (2021) | Immigrants | |
| Montenegro | 400 | Immigrants | |
| Latvia | 300 | Immigrants | |
| Uzbekistan | 300 | Immigrants | |
| Philippines | 206 (2010) | Immigrants | |
| Iceland | 200 (2015) | Immigrants | |
| North Macedonia | 200 | Immigrants | |
| Estonia | 173 (2018) | Immigrants | |
| Bulgaria | 153 (2015) | Immigrants | |
| Vietnam | 100 (2015) | Immigrants | |
| Liechtenstein | 44 (2015) | Immigrants | |
| Lithuania | 23 (2015) | Immigrants | |
| Total | 5.2–5.5 million | | Hungarians |
Hungarian immigration patterns to Western Europe increased in the 1990s and especially since 2004, after Hungary's admission in the European Union. Thousands of Hungarians from Hungary sought available work through guest-worker contracts in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Spain, and Portugal.

## Hungarian citizenship

A proposal supported by the DAHR to grant Hungarian citizenship to Hungarians living in Romania but without meeting Hungarian-law residency requirements was narrowly defeated at a 2004 referendum in Hungary. The referendum was invalid because of not enough participants. After the failure of the 2004 referendum, the leaders of the Hungarian ethnic parties in the neighboring countries formed the HTMSZF organization in January 2005, as an instrument lobbying for preferential treatment in the granting of Hungarian citizenship.
In 2010, some amendments were passed in Hungarian law facilitating an accelerated naturalization process for ethnic Hungarians living abroad; among other changes, the residency-in-Hungary requirement was waived. In May 2010, Slovakia announced it would strip Slovak citizenship from anyone applying for Hungarian citizenship. Romania's President Traian Băsescu declared in October 2010: "We have no objections to the adoption by the Hungarian government and parliament of a law making it easier to grant Hungarian citizenship to ethnic Hungarians living abroad."
The new citizenship law took effect on 1 January 2011. It did not grant the right to vote, even in national elections, to Hungarian citizens unless they also resided in Hungary on a permanent basis. In February 2011, the Fidesz government announced that it intended to grant the right to vote to its new citizens. Between 2011 and 2012, 200,000 applicants took advantage of the new, accelerated naturalization process; there were another 100,000 applications pending in the summer of 2012. As of February 2013, the Hungarian government had granted citizenship to almost 400,000 Hungarians ‘beyond the borders’. In June 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén announced that he expected the number to reach about half a million by the end of the year.
Hungarian citizens abroad have been able to participate in the parliamentary elections without Hungarian residency starting from the 2014 Hungarian parliamentary election, however, they cannot vote for a candidate running for the seat in a single-seat constituency, but for a party list.

## Famous people of Hungarian descent

| Country | Name | Occupation |
| Austria | Ferenc Anisits | Engineer |
| United States | Albert-László Barabási | Physicist and discoverer of scale-free networks |
| United States | Drew Barrymore | Actress |
| Austria | Béla Barényi | Engineer and prolific inventor |
| Germany | Josef von Báky | Film director |
| United States | Béla Bartók | Composer |
| United States | Zoltán Bay | Physicist and engineer |
| United States | György von Békésy | Biophysicist and Nobel Prize winner |
| United States | Pal Benko | Chess player and a record eight-time U.S. Open winner |
| United States | Adrien Brody | Actor and youngest winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor |
| United States | György Buzsáki | Neuroscientist |
| United States | Mihály Csíkszentmihályi | Psychologist of flow |
| United States | Larry Csonka | American football fullback |
| United States | Tony Curtis | Actor |
| France | György Cziffra | Pianist |
| United States Mexico | Louis C.K. | Comedian |
| United States | Rodney Dangerfield | Comedian |
| United States | Frank Darabont | Film director and screenplay writer |
| United States | Ernst von Dohnányi | Composer, pianist, and conductor |
| United States | Bobby Fischer | Chess player |
| Germany | Ferenc Fricsay | Conductor |
| United Kingdom | Stephen Fry | Comedian |
| United States | Zsa Zsa Gabor | Actress |
| United States | Peter Carl Goldmark | Engineer and inventor |
| United States | Andrew Grove | Businessman and entrepreneur |
| United States | Mickey Hargitay | Actor, body builder, and 1955 Mr. Universe |
| United States | Harry Houdini | Escapologist and magician |
| United States | Tim Howard | Soccer goalkeeper |
| Sweden Germany | George de Hevesy | Radiochemist and co-discoverer of hafnium |
| United States | Ilonka Karasz | Designer and illustrator known for her many New Yorker magazine covers |
| United States | Katalin Karikó | Biochemist and Nobel Prize winner |
| United States | Theodore von Kármán | Aeronautical engineer |
| United States | John George Kemeny | Mathematician, computer scientist, and co-developer of BASIC |
| United States | Laszlo B. Kish | Physicist |
| Sweden | George Klein | Microbiologist and author |
| Austria | Ferenc Krausz | Physicist and Nobel Prize winner |
| Belgium | Alexandre Lamfalussy | Economist |
| Germany | Philipp Lenard | Physicist and Nobel Prize winner |
| United States | Bela Lugosi | Actor |
| Mexico | Luis Mandoki | Film director |
| United States | Ilona Massey | Actress |
| United States | Paul Neményi | Physicist and mathematician |
| United States | John von Neumann | Mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, and polymath |
| Slovakia | Ľudovít Ódor | Prime Minister, Deputy Governor of the national bank |
| United States | Thomas Peterffy | Businessman and founder of Interactive Brokers |
| United States | Joaquin Phoenix | Actor |
| United States | Joseph Pulitzer | Journalist |
| United Kingdom | Árpád Pusztai | Biochemist |
| Slovakia | Ľudovít Rajter | Conductor |
| France | Nicolas Sarkozy | 23rd President of France |
| Austria | Franz Schmidt | Composer |
| United States | Jerry Seinfeld | Comedian, actor, writer, and producer |
| United States | Monica Seles | Tennis player |
| United States | Gene Simmons | Musician |
| Canada | Hans Selye | Endocrinologist |
| United States | Charles Simonyi | Software architect |
| United States | Victor Szebehely | Astronomist and physicist |
| United States | Albert Szent-Györgyi | Biochemist and Nobel Prize winner |
| United States | Leó Szilárd | Physicist and inventor |
| United States | Mária Telkes | Biophysicist and inventor |
| United States | Edward Teller | Physicist, engineer, and “father of the hydrogen bomb |
| United Kingdom | Kálmán Tihanyi | Physicist, engineer, and inventor |
| Czech Republic | Tomáš Ujfaluši | Association football player |
| France | Victor Vasarely | Artist of op art movement |
| United States | Gabriel von Wayditch | Composer |
| Germany | Richárd Zsigmondy | Chemist and Nobel Prize winner |
| France | Gyula Halász (Brassaï) | Photographer, sculptor, medalist, writer, and filmmaker |
| United States | Ivan Soltész | Scientist |
| Czech Republic | Tomáš Ujfaluši | Football player |
| Israel | Yair Lapid | Former Prime Minister of Israel |
| Israel | Benny Gantz | Former Israeli Minister of Defence |

## Politics

Since the Hungarian diaspora could start voting in elections in Hungary from 2012, they have overwhelmingly supported the ruling Fidesz. In the 2014 Hungarian parliamentary election, Fidesz won over 95% of the vote, in the 2018 Hungarian parliamentary election, over 96%, while in the 2019 European Parliament election in Hungary, Fidesz received 96%.
In the 2022 Hungarian parliamentary election, over 93%, while in the 2024 European Parliament election in Hungary, Fidesz received 90%.

### Minority interest parties

In several Eastern European countries, parties that represent the interests of Hungarian minorities have emerged.
| Country | Party | Party support at last election |
| Croatia | Democratic Union of Hungarians of Croatia | |
| Romania | Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania | 585,589 6.34% |
| Romania | Hungarian Alliance of Transylvania | |
| Serbia | Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians | 64,747 1.74% |
| Slovakia | Hungarian Alliance | 130,183 4.39% |
| Ukraine | Party of Hungarians of Ukraine (KMKSZ) | |

## Gallery

* John von Neumann (1903–1957), Hungarian-American mathematician and physicist of Hungarian descent.
* Mickey Hargitay was a Hungarian-American actor and 1955 Mr. Universe.