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It’s official. The population is at its lowest in 50 years, having fallen steadily from 10,709,000 in 1980 to 9,986,000 in January. The decline is now a record 0.5 per cent a year. Unless immediate steps are taken to increase birth rates and encourage immigration there will be well under 8 million people living in Hungary by 2050, with twice as many (one in three) over the age of 65.
Of the 27 European Union member states Hungary now ranks last in terms of natural population growth. Between January 2001 and April 2010 some 333,000 fewer Hungarians were born than died. Net immigration in this period helped to offset the figure by some 150,000 individuals but these days Hungary is more of a transit country for immigrants than a final destination.

On 1 July 1863 in a remote corner of Pennsylvania scouting parties of two great armies exchanged fire in a skirmish that became the Battle of Gettysburg, the turning point in the battle for the heart and soul of 19th-century America known as the Civil War. At issue was whether slavery should continue to be tolerated. A century later another battle for the hearts and minds of Americans was fought in Selma, Alabama and towns throughout the American South. This time the issue was whether 100 years after their emancipation African-Americans should remain second-class citizens or be permitted to enjoy the same civil rights as whites.

During the 1970s and 1980s Hungary was rightly considered the breadbasket of Eastern Europe. A thriving agricultural sector employed 14.8 per cent of the national workforce, accounted for 8 percent of gross domestic product and operated in a manner that was environmentally sustainable. Over the past 22 years the sector has experienced upheaval and contraction, in large part due to the winding-up of the cooperative farm system. The situation has been aggravated by meteorological phenomena associated with global warming.

A nation is judged by the way it treats its weakest members – so wrote Aristotle in the third century BC.

One wonders what he would make of last Thursday’s conviction and sentencing of five Roma and one Hungarian to a total of 29 years in prison for what prosecutors said was a racially motivated attack on a Hungarian student. Four of the six suspects had been held in detention since their arrest on 23 October 2009 even though their victim did not sustain any permanent or life-threatening injuries. If their conviction is upheld on appeal, most of them will serve out the balance of their sentences in prisons usually reserved for murderers and repeat violent offenders.

2010 was the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. And yet Europe’s estimated 8-10 million Roma found themselves poorer and more socially excluded than ever after the Italian and French governments demolished “illegal” Roma settlements and deported thousands of Roma in clear violation of their rights as citizens of European Union member states. A bill introduced recently in the Romanian parliament to change the official name of the Roma people to “Gypsy” so as not to confuse them with ordinary Romanians merely added insult to injury.

European Union membership has been a mixed blessing for Hungary. While certain sectors of the economy have thrived, agriculture has been dying a slow, painful death. Farmers find themselves no better able to compete with their Western counterparts today than when the import tariffs were first lifted seven years ago. Small farmers who traditionally grew produce and raised livestock for local consumption have been particularly hard hit.

With the number of museums in the city up around the 40 mark, anything new is going to have to be something special. Such an institution is the István Zelnik Southeast Asian Gold Museum, which opened up at 110 Andrássy Avenue late last month.

Many people may not be aware that book art is a stand-alone genre, but in fact it numbers several prominent artists including Joseph Beuys, Man Ray and Dieter Roth among its practitioners. The Magic of Artists’ Books exhibition now on at the Vízivárosi Galéria shows several international examples of book art from the collection of Júlia Vermes. 

Photographer Endre Kovács took an active part in the Hungarian avant-garde movement until his emigration in 1974. After he returned home almost 20 years later, the artist had to face his past, and his nation’s past. Now he has organised these fragile mementos into an exhibition.

Hungary’s 32-year-old super middleweight boxer Károly Balzsay defeated Ukrainian Stanislav Kashtanov in 12 rounds in Donetsk, Ukraine, last Friday.

The Hungarian men’s tennis Davis Cup team came from 1-2 behind to defeat Belarus 3-2 in Gödöllő last weekend and earn the chance to appear in a play-off that will decide promotion to the competition’s second tier, Group One of the Euro/African Zone.

Europe’s emerging golf talent will appear in the European Young Masters tournament at the 18-hole Royal Balaton Golf and Yacht Club in Balatonudvari between 18 and 24 July.

The nation’s best stallion, Overdose, will appear as guest of honour at this Sunday’s 89th Hungarian Derby at Kincsem Park, Budapest.

Hungary’s Melinda Czink won both her first two matches in straight sets but said goodbye to the Wimbledon tennis tournament in the third round last Sunday when she lost to world number 20 Peng Shuai of China 6-2, 7-6.

McLaren’s Jenson Button, currently number two in the Formula One drivers’ standings after eight races, was in town on Thursday to promote the upcoming Hungarian Grand Prix on 31 July.

Ádám Hanga, the first Hungarian player ever to be drafted by a team in the US National Basketball Association, flew from Budapest to San Antonio, Texas, last Sunday to meet his potential new teammates.

The British-owned football team of Hungary’s most popular sports club FTC may be bought back by the association, FTC president Gábor Kubatov announced last Wednesday.

After a hapless 0-4 home loss to World Cup runner-up Holland on 25 March, the Hungarian national team went some way to regaining the support of its fans at the sixth game of the Euro2012 qualifiers in Amsterdam last Tuesday.

Gábor Kubatov, the party director of the governing Fidesz, announced on Facebook last Friday that he will accept the nomination to become the new president of Hungary's most popular football club, FTC. Kubatov was asked to lead the organisation after the previous head quit when the British owner of the club's football section decided not to finance the team any longer. The new leader faces difficult challenges with numerous sport sections of FTC in disarray and the company managing the football team seeking a new owner.