maximum in July. The rainfall in Hungary, except in the mountainous
regions, is small in comparison with that of Austria. In these
regions the greatest fall is during the summer, though in some
years the autumn showers are heavier. Hail storms are of frequent
occurrence in the Carpathians. On the plains rain rarely falls
during the heats of summer; and the showers though violent are
generally of short duration, whilst the moisture is quickly evaporated
owing to the aridity of the atmosphere. The vast sandy wastes
mainly contribute to the dryness of the winds on the Great Hungarian
Alföld. Occasionally, the whole country suffers much from drought;
but disastrous floods not unfrequently occur, particularly in the
spring, when the beds of the rivers are inadequate to contain the
increased volume of water caused by the rapid melting of the snows
on the Carpathians. On the whole Hungary is a healthy country,
excepting in the marshy tracts, where intermittent fever and
diphtheria sometimes occur with great virulence.
The following table gives the mean temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall (including snow) at a series of meteorological stations during the years 1896–1900:—
| Stations. | Feet above Sea. | Mean Temperature (Fahrenheit). |
Relative Humidity. | Rainfall in Inches. | ||
| Annual. | Jan. | July. | ||||
| Selmeczbánya | 2037 | 46.2 | 27.9 | 64.8 | 79 | 35.29 |
| Budapest | 502 | 50.9 | 30.9 | 68.8 | 76 | 24.02 |
| Keszthely | 436 | 52.5 | 30.0 | 71.4 | 78 | 26.67 |
| Zágráb | 534 | 52.3 | 34.3 | 70.5 | 72 | 34.32 |
| Fiume | 16 | 56.9 | 43.6 | 72.7 | 75 | 70.39 |
| Debreczen | 423 | 50.2 | 28.6 | 70 | 79 | 22.26 |
| Szeged | 312 | 51.6 | 31.1 | 71.1 | 80 | 25.58 |
| Nagyszeben | 1357 | 48.9 | 25.9 | 60.1 | 79 | 28.66 |
Fauna.—The horned cattle of Hungary are amongst the finest in Europe, and large herds of swine are reared in the oak forests. The wild animals are bears, wolves, foxes, lynxes, wild cats, badgers, otters, martens, stoats and weasels. Among the rodents there are hares, marmots, beavers, squirrels, rats and mice, the last in enormous swarms. Of the larger game the chamois and deer are specially noticeable. Among the birds are the vulture, eagle, falcon, buzzard, kite, lark, nightingale, heron, stork and bustard. Domestic and wild fowl are generally abundant. The rivers and lakes yield enormous quantities of fish, and leeches also are plentiful. The Theiss, once better supplied with fish than any other river in Europe, has for many years fallen off in its productiveness. The culture of the silkworm is chiefly carried on in the south, and in Croatia-Slavonia.
Flora.—Almost every description of grain is found, especially wheat and maize, besides Turkish pepper or paprika, rape-seed, hemp and flax, beans, potatoes and root crops. Fruits of various descriptions, and more particularly melons and stone fruits, are abundant. In the southern districts almonds, figs, rice and olives are grown. Amongst the forest and other trees are the oak, which yields large quantities of galls, the beech, fir, pine, ash and alder, also the chestnut, walnut and filbert. The vine is cultivated over the greater part of Hungary, the chief grape-growing districts being those of the Hegyalja (Tokaj), Sopron, and Ruszt, Ménes, Somlyó (Schomlau), Béllye and Villány, Balaton, Neszmély, Visonta, Eger (Erlau) and Buda. Hungary is one of the greatest wine-producing countries in Europe, and the quality of some of the vintages, especially that of Tokaj, is unsurpassed. A great quantity of tobacco is also grown; it is wholly monopolized by the crown. In Hungary proper and in Croatia and Slavonia there are many species of indigenous plants, which are unrepresented in Transylvania. Besides 12 species peculiar to the former grand-principality, 14 occur only there and in Siberia.
Population.—Hungary had in 1900 a population of 19,254,559, equivalent to 153.7 inhabitants per square mile. The great Alföld and the western districts are the most densely populated parts, whereas the northern and eastern mountainous counties are sparsely inhabited. As regards sex, for every 1000 men there were 1011 women in Hungary, and 998 women in Croatia-Slavonia. The excess of females over males is great in the western and northern counties, while in the eastern parts and in Croatia-Slavonia there is at slight preponderance of males.
The population of the country at the censuses of 1880, 1890 and 1900 was:—
| 1880. | 1890. | 1900. | |
| Hungary proper | 13,749,603 | 15,261,864 | 16,838,255 |
| Croatia-Slavonia | 1,892,499 | 2,201,927 | 2,416,304 |
| Total | 15,642,102 | 17,463,791 | 19,254,559 |
From 1870 to 1880 there was little increase of population, owing to the great cholera epidemic of 1872–1873, and to many epidemic diseases among children towards the end of the period. More normal conditions having prevailed from 1880 to 1890, the yearly increase rose from 0.13% to 1.09%, declining in the decade 1890–1900 to 1.03.
If compared with the first general census of the country, decreed by Joseph II. in 1785, the population of the kingdom shows an increase of nearly 108% during these 116 years. Recent historical research has ascertained that the country was densely peopled in the 15th century. Estimates, based on a census of the tax-paying peasantry in the years 1494 and 1495, give five millions of inhabitants, a very respectable number, which explains fully the predominant position of Hungary in the east of Europe at that epoch. The disastrous invasion of the Turks, incessant civil wars and devastation by foreign armies and pestilence, caused a very heavy loss both of population and of prosperity. In 1715 and 1720, when the land was again free from Turkish hordes and peace was restored, the population did not exceed three millions. Then immigration began to fill the deserted plains once more, and by 1785 the population had trebled itself. But as the immigrants were of very different foreign nationalities, the country became a collection of heterogeneous ethnical elements, amid which the ruling Magyar race formed only a minority.
The most serious drain on the population is caused by emigration, due partly to the grinding poverty of the mass of the peasants, partly to the resentment of the subject races against the process of “Magyarization” to which they have long been subjected by the government. This movement reached its height in 1900, when 178,170 people left the country; in 1906 the number had sunk to 169,202, of whom 47,920 were women.[1] Altogether, since 1896 Hungary has lost about a million of its inhabitants through this cause, a serious source of weakness in a sparsely populated country; in 1907 an attempt was made by the Hungarian parliament to restrict emigration by law. The flow of emigration is mainly to the United States, and a certain number of the emigrants return (27,612 in 1906) bringing with them much wealth, and Americanized views which have a considerable effect on the political situation.[2] Of political importance also is the steady immigration of Magyar peasants and workmen into Croatia-Slavonia, where they become rapidly absorbed into the Croat population. From the Transylvanian counties there is an emigration to Rumania and the Balkan territories of 4000 or 5000 persons yearly.
This great emigration movement is the more serious in view of the very slow increase of the population through excess of births over deaths. The birth-rate is indeed high (40.2 in 1897), but with the spread of culture it is tending to decline (38.4 in 1902), and its effect is counteracted largely by the appalling death-rate, which exceeds that of any other European country except Russia.
In this respect, however, matters are improving, the death-rate sinking from 33.1 per thousand in 1881–1885 to 28.1 per thousand in 1896–1900. The improvement, which is mainly due to better sanitation and the draining of the pestilential marshes, is most conspicuous in the case of Hungary proper, which shows the following figures: 33.3 per thousand in 1881–1885, and 27.8 per thousand in 1896–1900.
At the census of 1900 fifteen towns had more than 40,000 inhabitants, namely: Budapest, 732,322; Szeged, 100,270; Szabadka (Maria-Theresiopel), 81,464; Debreczen, 72,351; Pozsony (Pressburg), 61,537; Hódmezö-Vásárhely, 60,824; Zágráb (Agram), 61,002; Kecskemét, 56,786; Arad, 53,903; Temesvár, 53,033; Nagyvárad (Grosswardein), 47,018; Kolozsvár (Klausenburg), 46,670; Pécs (Fünfkirchen), 42,252; Miskolcz, 40,833; Kassa, 35,856.
The number and aggregate population of all towns and boroughs in Hungary proper having in 1890 more than 10,000 inhabitants was at the censuses of 1880, 1890 and 1900:—
| Census. | Towns. | Inhabitants. | Percentage of Total Population. |
| 1880 | 93 | 2,191,878 | 15.94 |
| 1890 | 106 | 2,700,852 | 17.81 |
| 1900 | 122 | 3,525,377 | 21.58 |
Thus the relative increase of the population living in urban districts of more than 10,000 inhabitants amounted in 1900 to nearly 4% of the total population. In Croatia-Slavonia only 5.62% of the population was concentrated in such towns in 1900.
Races.—One of the prominent features of Hungary being the great complexity of the races residing in it (see map, “Distribution of
