21/09/2026
Below, you can see the map of Hungary and Croatia. It's about the repopulation of the land after 1683.
A common mistake of this map is that the rarely populated mountain areas are not indicated, so one can easily be confused.
The Great Immigration from the Balkans – A Story of Loss and Survival
From the early 17th century, Serbian refugees became the ethnic majority in large parts of Ottoman-controlled Hungary. This area included territories between the great rivers Száva, Dráva, and the Danube–Tisza Interfluve.
Note, that the 92% of mercenaries serving in Ottoman-held garrisons in occupied part of Hungary, were not Turks. According to the payrolls, they were of Serbian or Albanian origin.
According to modern estimates, the proportion of Hungarians in the Carpathian Basin was around 80% at the end of the 15th century, while non-Hungarians made up only 20–25% of the total population.
The Hungarian population began to decline during the Ottoman conquest. This decline was driven by constant wars, Ottoman raids, famines, and plagues during the 150 years of Ottoman rule.
The main zones of war were the territories inhabited by Hungarians, so the death toll depleted them much faster than other nationalities. We must also include the losses suffered not only by the Ottomans but from Western mercenaries and some Hungarian soldiers — mostly Hajdús — who were also hard on the population.
The three parts of Hungary — Habsburg-ruled Royal Hungary, Ottoman Hungary, and Transylvania — experienced only minor differences in population growth in the 17th century.
According to the most authoritative studies, the collective population of all three regions grew from about 3.5 million inhabitants at the close of the 16th century to about 4 million by the close of the 17th century.
The Ottoman–Habsburg wars of the 17th century were fought intermittently and affected populations occupying a much narrower band of territory. Thus wartime dislocations in Hungary do not seem to have seriously affected mortality rates among the general civilian population.
In the late 16th century, Hungary's population stood at 900,000 in Ottoman Hungary, 1,800,000 in Habsburg Hungary, and 800,000 in the semi-independent Principality of Transylvania — a total of 3,500,000 inhabitants for the whole of Hungary.
The most severe destruction was experienced between 1604 and 1606. The worst effects of the controlled confrontation between Ottoman-Habsburg forces were magnified many times over by Hungary's descent into civil war during the Bocskai rebellion.
Population growth in Ottoman Hungary during the 17th century was slight: from 900,000 to approximately 1,000,000 inhabitants — a rate similar to that experienced in Royal Hungary and Transylvania.
We know that Hungary could have been liberated without the Habsburgs in 1664 with the help of the French king and the German princes, led by Count Zrínyi Miklós. It didn't serve Habsburg dynastic interests, and the Christian coalition was wrecked at the too-slow Siege of Kanizsa. Some say it was intentionally sabotaged. Zrínyi died in a hunting accident in 1664 as well.
Later, Hungary was left out of initiating the anti-Ottoman war. (Read my posts about Prince Thököly.)
Thus, the country was "liberated" by another Christian coalition led by the Habsburgs — after just over 30 more years of suffering had to be endured. According to Takács Sándor, the rate of destruction during this war was even bigger than the whole harm suffered during the previous one-hundred and fifty years.
We have to mention the huge Serbian raids aimed at the southern part of Hungary in 1701–1702 after the Turks had gone. These raids and further destructions were instigated by the Habsburgs, but they could not control them. Eventually, these events contributed to triggering the Freedom Fight of Prince Rákóczi.
Comparing it to other countries: there lived 4 million people in England in the 1490s, but their number was 8 million at the end of the 17th century.
At the same time, we had about 4 million people in 1699. You can see that 4 million Hungarians were simply not born. Yet some experts say it was a miracle that even this many Hungarians survived and were able to preserve their national heritage.
