Hungary is a medium-sized country in the Carpathian basin, with ten million inhabitants. It has been a separate state for more than a thousand years, and has been a member state of the European Union since 2004. The size of the country is about 93 000 square kilometres, its official language is Hungarian, which is the most widely spoken non-Indo-European language in Europe.
Although Hungary is humble in size, throughout history it has welcomed and given home to diverse values, cultures and traditions – and is part of both the Eastern and Western heritage. It has given the world many well-known inventors, scientists, explorers, composers and athletes. In addition Hungary has more Nobel Prize winners per capita than any other nation.
Besides being a world leader in Nobel Prize laureates, there are also many famous inventions and innovations that Hungarians have given to the world - just to name a few: the matches (János Irinyi), the dynamo and the soda water machine (Ányos Jedlik), the telephone switch (Tivadar Puskás), the helicopter (Oszkár Asbóth), the ballpoint pen (László Bíró) the concept of digital computing (János von Neumann) the colour TV (Peter Károly Goldmark) as well as the design of the Volkswagen Beetle.
Across the country there are 8 World Heritage Sites, and even though it is a small country Hungary is abundant in natural beauty such as 10 national parks, rivers, gentle hills, fresh water lakes, lush forests, large plains, caves and caverns with fantastic underground treasures and the world’s second largest thermal lake. The beautiful sceneries provide great opportunities for hiking and other fun outdoor activities. All this makes the country an increasingly popular European tourist destination. Currently, with over 12 million visitors, Hungary ranks as the 23rd most visited country in the world.
The capital city Budapest and the countryside both evoke a strong sense of history and tradition almost at every turn. In Hungary many cities have attained their historical monuments, showing influence from various cultures, including the Turkish invaders, Austrian emperors, not to mention Italian Renaissance designers.
Some of the real treasures of the country are: The Great Hungarian Plains, one of the largest plains of Europe. The Northernmost historical mosque of the continent can be found in the city of Pécs and the nearby town of Villány produces one of the best red wines in Hungary. With its scenic setting and beautiful old houses Hollókő is a village where the traditional way of life is still alive. Esztergom, a charming little town with an imposing Basilica is the spiritual home and first capital of Hungary and Aggtelek offers the unique adventure of visiting the largest cave system in Central Europe. The Tokaj region’s gift to the world is the locally produced dessert wine, which is known as the “wine of kings and king of wines”. Lake Hévíz with its 25°C yearly average water temperature is the largest biologically active thermal lake in Europe and there are many other historic spa towns and retreats throughout the country offering everything from a simple bath in thermal waters to longer luxury stays at lovely spa resorts.
Although Hungary is a landlocked country, Lake Balaton, central Europe's largest fresh water lake, is often called the Hungarian sea. The more than 70-kilometre long lake with its silky bluish green water is one of Hungary's most frequented resorts. It is the location of the open water contests of the 2017 FINA World Championships.. This is just one of the many aquatics events organized here, since Lake Balaton often welcomes swimming and sailing competitions and the Balaton Cross-Swimming Championship which is an annual event
The first European Swimming Championship (1926) took place in Budapest, which was followed – in big part thanks to the remarkable achievements of our athletes and professionals – by four more events in 1958, 2006, 2010 and 2012 (with the last event held in Debrecen).
Hungary is proudly placed 8th both in the all-time Olympic medal table and in that of the FINA World Championships, while it ranks 5th in the European Championships (aquatics), despite being the world’s 108th country as far as its size is concerned, and the 84th in terms of its population.
Importantly, Hungary was among the eight founding nations of FINA. With all that in mind we are honoured to host the third major global sport event, and are very much looking forward to welcoming you at the 17th FINA World Championships.