The Russians receive Hungarian citizenship on a treadmill. Reached a record for the last decade
Pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian manifestation in Budapest, Hungary. April 30, 2022. PHOTO Credit: Kisbenedek / AFP / Profimedia
Twice as much as before the war. Meanwhile, the number of Ukrainians who have acquired Hungarian citizenship has decreased, writes Népszava, quoted by Rador Radio Romania.
The number of Russians who have acquired Hungarian citizenship has reached a record in the last decade, while fewer and fewer wanted to obtain Hungarian citizenship next to the Ukrainian passport, reports the Hungarian newspaper citing HVG Economic Weekly.
The newspaper reminds that from the beginning of the war triggered by Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022, many Ukrainian citizens have sought refuge in a Member State of the European Union, so the EU population has not increased so much, from 445 million to 449 million between 2022 and 2024.
According to the detailed data of Eurostat on demographic and migration, a spectacular change can be observed in the population of Hungary, but not so much in the number of Ukrainians, but in increasing the number of Russians requesting EU citizenship. Moreover: in 2022 and 2023, the number of Russians who acquired Hungarian citizenship increased, while the number of Ukrainians decreased.
Russians, in the top 3
According to the newspaper, about 2,000-4,000 people receive Hungarian citizenship every year, and most of them have Romanian or Slovak citizenship as a first citizenship, and so it is from 2019. However, a big change took place in 2023, namely that the Russians arrived in third place. This year, 138 Russians became Hungarian citizens, double compared to the level before the war. Meanwhile, half of the number of people in Ukraine received citizenship compared to about ten years ago.
According to statistics, there are other EU Member States where the Russians are in the Top 3 among those who acquire a second citizenship – such as Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Poland and Romania – but, with the exception of Latvia, a significant difference is that the number of Ukrainians has increased.
The newspaper also analyzed the places where the Hungarians obtained new citizenship and, not surprisingly, the vast majority leave for the “declining West”, points out Népszava. In 2023, the largest number of people acquired German citizenship in addition to Hungarian citizenship, 2,105 persons.
The second largest number of people, 531, received citizenship in Sweden, and the third largest number – 383 people – was registered by Switzerland, which, although not an EU member state, provides data for Eurostat. In addition to them, hundreds received citizenship in Austria, Belgium, Holland and Norway.
