POPULATION 10,075,034
ROMAN CATHOLIC 51.9 percent
REFORMED 15.9 percent
LUTHERAN 3.0 percent
GREEK CATHOLIC 2.6 percent
NONRELIGIOUS 25.4 percent
OTHER 1.2 percent

Country Overview

Introduction

The Republic of Hungary is located in central Europe. It is bordered by Austria and Slovenia to the west, Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, and Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro to the south.

The area was occupied by the Roman Empire at the end of the first century B.C.E. Roman soldiers imported the ancient Roman religion and the other main religions of the empire, including Christianity, the Mithras cult, and the Isis-Osiris cult. After the collapse of Roman power in the region, it was invaded by German tribes, who were expelled by the Avars in the sixth century. Christianity had disappeared almost totally by the time the Hungarian pagan tribes arrived (sometime before the tenth century). The Kingdom of Hungary was founded in...