Hungary’s population shrank by the most in more than a century last year, with the eastern European country notching the world’s highest death rate during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The plunge of 48,667 was the highest since 1918, when the Spanish flu and World War I were the biggest contributing factors, data released Wednesday showed. The population has shrunk every year since 1982 and stood at 9.7 million at end-2020.
Like much of the continent, Hungary has been trying to reverse demographic decline — doling out subsidies and tax breaks for families. But, despite one of the European Union’s better vaccination campaigns, Prime Minister Viktor Orban was late in introducing lockdown restrictions during the second and third waves of the pandemic.
Hungary isn’t alone in suffering historic damage. Italy’s population also fell last year by the most since World I, while Australia recorded its first quarterly decline since 1916.
