Hungary Military 2023, CIA World Factbook

Hungarian Defense Forces (HDF or Magyar Honvédség): the HDF is organized as a joint force under a general staff with commands for land, air, cyber, special operations, territorial defense, and support forces (2023)

note: the National Police are under the Ministry of Interior and responsible for maintaining order nationwide; the Ministry of Interior also has the Counterterrorism Center, a special police force responsible for protecting the president and the prime minister and for preventing, uncovering, and detecting terrorist acts

Military expenditures

2.4% of GDP (2023 est.)

1.8% of GDP (2022 est.)

1.7% of GDP (2021)

1.8% of GDP (2020)

1.4% of GDP (2019)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 21,000 active-duty troops (16,000 Army; 5,000 Air Force) (2022)

note: in 2017, Hungary announced plans to increase the number of active soldiers to around 37,000 but did not give a timeline

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the military's inventory consists largely of Soviet-era weapons, with a smaller mix of more modern European and US equipment; in recent years, Germany has been the top supplier of military hardware to Hungary (2023)

Military service age and obligation

18-25 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription (abolished 2005); 6-month service obligation (2022)

note: as of 2019, women comprised approximately 20% of Hungary's full-time military personnel

Military deployments

150 Bosnia-Herzegovina (EUFOR stabilization force); 150 Iraq (NATO); 430 Kosovo (NATO/KFOR) (2023)

Military - note

Hungary joined NATO in 1999; Czechia, Hungary, and Poland were invited to begin accession talks at NATO's Madrid Summit in 1997 and in March 1999 they became the first former members of the Warsaw Pact to join the Alliance (2023)

NOTE: The information regarding Hungary on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Hungary 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Hungary 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.