Ethnic Processes in Hungary After the Turn of the Millennium Cover Image

Etnikai folyamatok Magyarországon az ezredforduló után
Ethnic Processes in Hungary After the Turn of the Millennium

Author(s): Patrik Tátrai
Subject(s): Ethnic Minorities Studies
Published by: Központi Statisztikai Hivatal

Summary/Abstract: The current paper studies the changes in the ethnic structure of post-socialist Hungary. Based on the data of the census 2011, it turned out, contrary to the expectations, that the number of the non-Hungarian population significantly increased between 2001 and 2011 and so did the population that declared no ethnicity or refused to answer. Behind this phenomenon one can identify several reasons of which the methodological changes and the role of migration and of subjective factors should be highlighted. As for the methodology, double/multiple identification in three/four ethnic categories was allowed in the last two censuses, which resulted in the growing number of respondents who declare both Hungarian and minority ethnicity. Meanwhile, the arrival of mainly economic migrants from Romania, Ukraine and Serbia has changed the ethnic landscape, particularly in the Central Region. A new transnational form of migration, observed at the Hungarian–Slovakian and Hungarian–Romanian border zones, is the cross-border suburbanization. Since the above-mentioned factors do not explain all the changes, the role of the subjective factors should be researched, too. The present paper reveals that the self-identification of some of the minorities is related to symbolic ethnicity, thus the results of the census cannot be interpreted in the frame of the assimilation discourse.

  • Issue Year: 54/2014
  • Issue No: 05
  • Page Range: 506-523
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: Hungarian