The population of modern Hungary is almost 80 percent Magyar, but there are also significant populations of Gypsy (4 percent), German (2.6 percent), Serb (2 percent), Slovak (0.8 percent), and Romanian (0.7 percent). Before World War II there had also been a Jewish population of about 750,000, but only 150,000 survived the war.

Four million Magyars also live outside of Hungary, mostly in Romania, the Czech Republic, and the regions of the former Yugoslavia--states which had been a part of Hungary before World War I. This ethnic link between states gives Hungary a personal interest in the domestic affairs of its neighbors.