The size and territorial pattern of the Hungarian community from Slovakia based on the 2021 census

Abstract

The study analyses the change in number of Hungarians in Slovakia based on official census data from 1910 to 2021, with a special focus on the latest census of 2021 and on the territorial patterns of the changes. Official census data prove that the number and proportion of Hungarians continuously decreased in the last 100 years with the exception of the period between the 1960 and the 1990s, this trend even accelerated after the democratic transition and the independence of Slovakia in the 1990s. Nowadays, even the easing of social tension could only slow down the intensified trend of weight loss, which in the long term led to the Hungarians' share falling from one quarter around 1920 to less than 8% in a hundred years. Whereas prior to the regime change the tendencies of the state (to diminish the number of minorities) were responsible for the actual decrease – beside the worsening of demographic indicators –, after 1991 the accelerating assimilation due to mixed marriages, education fuelled the process – while demographic indicators continued their deterioration under the democratic circumstances. This resulted in the decrease of the Hungarian population from 25% in the 1920s to 7,75% by 2021.