Environment, public utilities

In 2023, in addition to a record number of 68 thousand sport hunters, nearly 3 thousand professional hunters performed tasks of wildlife management and wildlife protection management in Hungary. Out of the 50 best antlered deer trophies in Hungary so far, 20 were taken in Zala County, 11 in Somogy County, and 15-15 of the best fallow deer trophies were taken in Hajdú-Bihar and Tolna Counties. The revenues of hunting companies from shooting for hire and the provision of related services increased to a peak value of HUF 18.2 billion in 2023.

Storm Boris, which struck central Europe in mid-September, brought heavy rainfall to the region, triggering long-unprecedented flooding in the upper Danube. In Hungary, too, water levels reached record levels, in some cases approaching the highest levels of 2013 by less than half a metre. A fifth of Hungary's territory and a third of its settlements are at risk of flooding, with more than 300 of them classified as high risk.

The yearbook provides an overview of Hungary's demographic, social and economic processes, environmental characteristics and their changes over time, with the help of tens of thousands of data of 500 tables, graphs and maps. Innovatively, the Tourism, catering chapter in the volume includes the gross receipts of tourist accommodation establishments by type of accommodation. Another change is that this year the Regional data chapter already presents territorial data by tourism area, giving greater emphasis to tourist destinations.

The first Hungarian Zoo – the Budapest Zoo & Botanical Garden - opened its gates on 9 August 1866, the Day of the Zoos is organised year after year on this particular day in memory of the event. Their educational and that of environmentally conscious awareness work reaches many people, while the zoo’s nature conserving activity contributes to the conservation of endangered species. Visits to Hungary’s zoos came close to four million in 2023, this number being the third highest after the turn of the millennium.

The HCSO conducted, for the first time, an experimental survey in 2023 on environmental habits of households. The questionnaire aimed to learn about households’ approach to environmental issues. The problems posing the most serious threat deemed to be the growing amounts of waste and the low rate of public transport use. Composting is widespread in municipalities and other towns, not so much in towns of county rank and Budapest. 41% of households purchased environmentally friendly products on a regular basis in 2023, families with children are more willing to buy environmentally friendly products.

The European Association of National Parks (EUROPARC) declared 24 May 1999 as European Day of Parks to commemorate the establishment of the continent's first national parks in Sweden on this day in 1909. The aim of the initiative is to raise awareness of the importance of national parks and other protected areas and thus to promote wider public support for nature conservation.

The UN initiative aims to raise awareness of the threats to our planet's climate and the natural changes caused by climate change. Records show that 2023 was the warmest year on Earth, and parts of Europe also broke all-time temperature records. In other regions, rain falling in a single day, even the equivalent of the area's annual precipitation, caused widespread flooding and huge property damage.

According to the current nature conservation act (Act LIII of 1996 on the Protection of Nature), 10 May is the Day of Birds and Trees every year. The commemorations and events held at this time should strengthen the commitment of the population, especially young people, to nature conservation. In 1906, ornithologist István Chernel was the first to organise a „Day of the Birds” in Hungary, on the initiative of Otto Herman, to commemorate the 1902 Paris Convention, signed by European countries to „protect birds useful for agriculture”.

A green economy, as a model of organising and developing the economy, aims to reduce environmental risks and to compensate for the scarcity of available natural resources, as one of the priorities aims to increase energy efficiency. According to energy performance certificates issued in 2022 for new and used residential real estate, buildings with the highest energy efficiency were in Győr-Moson-Sopron and Pest Counties as well as Budapest, while the least energy efficient ones in Nógrád, Békés and Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Counties.

Datasets from the Dissemination Database regarding settlements have been updated with 2021 data, as such settlement related data for 2021 are available since 13 December, concerning, among others, public water and sewerage.

In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development was held in Rio de Janeiro, and gave the impetus to the integration of the concept of sustainable development into national and global policies. In Hungary, the National Sustainable Development Council (NFFT, established in 2007) developed the Hungarian National Sustainable Development Framework Strategy, which was adopted by the Parliament in 2013. The framework strategy aims to provide a nationwide, long-term guide for individual and community action. Compared to the strategy of the European Union or the UN SDGs, the Hungarian framework strategy interprets the concept of sustainability much more narrowly. In this interpretation, sustainable development policy is primarily a long-term resource management activity in which it distinguishes four resources: human, social, natural and economic resources.