Somogy County

Somogy County Somogy megye  (Hungarian)
Counties of Hungary
Flag Coat of arms
Country	Hungary
Region	Southern Transdanubia
County seat	Kaposvár
Government
• President of the General Assembly	Norbert Bíró (Fidesz-KDNP)
Area
• Total	6,065.07 km2 (2,341.74 sq mi)
Area rank	5th in Hungary
Population (2011 census)
• Total	317,307
• Rank	13th in Hungary
• Density	52/km2 (140/sq mi)
Postal code	7253 – 729x, 74xx – 75xx, 7918, 7977 – 7979, 86xx – 873x, 884x – 885x
Area code(s)	(+36) 82, 84, 85
ISO 3166 code	HU-SO
Website	www.som-onkorm.hu

Somogy (Slovene: Šomodska županija) is an administrative county (comitatus or megye) in present Hungary, and also in the former Kingdom of Hungary.

Somogy county

Somogy county lies in south-western Hungary, on the border with Croatia. It stretches between the river Dráva and the southern shore of Lake Balaton. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Zala, Veszprém, Fejér, Tolna, and Baranya. It is the most sparsely populated county in Hungary. The capital of Somogy county is Kaposvár. Its area is 6,036 km².

History

Somogy was also the name of a historic administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory, which was slightly larger than that of present Somogy county, is now in south-western Hungary. The capital of the county was Kaposvár.

Aerial photograph of Kaposvár.

Population

Demographics

In 2015, it had a population of 312,084 and the population density was 52/km².

Year	County population[1]	Change
1949	361,213	n/a
1960	368,183 (record)	1.93%
1970	357,009	-3.03%
1980	360,270	0.91%
1990	344,708	-4.32%
2001	335,237	-2.75%
2011	316,137	-5.70%

Ethnicity

Besides the Hungarian majority, the main minorities are the Roma (approx. 16,000), Germans (3,000) and Croats (1,500).

Total population (2011 census): 316,137
Ethnic groups (2011 census):^[2]

Identified themselves: 287,692 persons:

• Hungarians: 265,464 (92,27%)
• Romani Gypsies: 16,167 (5,62%)
• Germans: 3,039 (1,06%)
• Others and indefinable: 3,022 (1,05%)

Approx. 46,000 persons in Somogy County did not declare their ethnic group at the 2011 census.

Religion

Religious adherence in the county according to 2011 census:^[3]

• Catholic 53.2%
  • Latin Catholic 53.1%, served by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kaposvár
  • Greek Catholic – 0.2%;
• Protestant 6.5%
  • Reformed – 6.7%;
  • Evangelical – 1.8%;
• Other religions – 1.1%;
• Non-religious – 11.2%;
• Atheism – 1.0%;
• Undeclared – 24.8%.

Politics

The Somogy County Council, elected at the 2014 local government elections, is made up of 16 counselors, with the following party composition:^[4]

Presidents of the General Assembly

Municipalities

Cities with county rights

• Kaposvár – county seat; 66,245 (as of 2011)

Towns

(ordered by population, as of 2011 census)

Villages

municipalities are large villages.

See also

• Slovenes in Somogy

Gallery

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Somogy County.

• Official site in Hungarian
• Somogyi Hírlap (sonline.hu) - The county portal
• Hungary at GeoHive

Coordinates: 46°25′N 17°35′E / 46.417°N 17.583°E / 46.417; 17.583