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Current investigation analyses the processes of internal migration in Hungary following the regime change, which is divided into three stages: 1) the period of suburbanization that developed in the 1990s and then receded in the mid-2000s; 2) for a decade from the mid-2000s, the balance of migration tipped towards the towns again; (3) from the mid-2010s, the migration gain of villages has become decisive. Budapest became again a destination for migration in the second stage, while the population its agglomeration - with varying extent - gradually increased its proportion within the country. In the examined periods, several urban areas represented significant migration surplus (mainly in Northwestern Transdanubia), while the county seats of Northern Hungary, hit by the industrial crisis, were characterized by emigration even at the level of their catchment areas. Settlement groups struggling with almost continuous migration losses appeared especially on the periphery along the northeastern border. In addition to 'welfare' suburbanization, however, many settlements also experienced the migration of poor people induced by financial problems of population. Migration processes were affected by the 2008-2009 crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the government's family and housing policy. The relationship between the level of development expressed in terms of income and the internal migration balance is on the one hand contingent, on the other hand changing over time and not clear. After the grouping of settlements according to their income level, emigration seems to be more frequent among the most backward settlements, but the migration gains of the more developed settlement groups are significantly fluctuating. During the first suburbanization period, differences in the migration balance decreased, however, according to the levels of development, the gap opened both during the crisis and during the second suburbanization that unfolded again in the last decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamic growth of spatial databases and IT analytical capabilities has expanded the scope for historical comparative studies. However, a number of problems have hampered the implementation of these analyses, mainly due to the altering methodology of statistical measurements, the changing content and uncertain explanatory power of socio-economic factors, and not least the repeatedly redrawn spatial frameworks. In the case of historical Hungary, the coherent data structure became fragmented as a result of the Treaty of Trianon, which also made it difficult to create a database for the current time section. The comparative analysis of linear infrastructure elements over time, in particular railways, poses fewer dilemmas, while the expression of complex development is a much more complicated problem. The study used calculations based on a common methodology, but essentially different in terms of the variables used in the two time sections in order to compare the change in the situation between 1910 and 2010 for the territory of historical Hungary (covering 8 countries in total). The authors have used geographic information tools to project municipal level data on a 10*10 km grid, since the problems mentioned above made direct comparison impossible. Their experience shows that the grid network is suitable for comparing the spatial structure of development over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current investigation applied the method of triadic decomposition of GDP per capita using it as an indicator to express the competitiveness in static, dynamic and combined forms. The results partly supported the former findings about the development characteristics of Hungarian towns. Some outputs of the current investigation highlighted new trends and spatial processes of competitiveness of towns after the millennium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]