title: Event-driven architecture

text: The event body provides the details of the state change detected. An event body should not be confused with the pattern or the logic that may be applied in reaction to the occurrence of the event itself.


title: Event-driven architecture

text: An event driven architecture may be built on four logical layers, starting with the sensing of an event (i.e., a significant temporal state or fact), proceeding to the creation of its technical representation in the form of an event structure and ending with a non-empty set of reactions to that event.


title: Event-driven architecture

text: The first logical layer is the event producer, which senses a fact and represents that fact as an event message. As an example, an event producer could be an email client, an E-commerce system, a monitoring agent or some type of physical sensor.


title: Event-driven architecture

text: Converting the data collected from such a diverse set of data sources to a single standardized form of data for evaluation is a significant task in the design and implementation of this first logical layer. However, considering that an event is a strongly declarative frame, any informational operations can be easily applied, thus eliminating the need for a high level of standardization.


title: Event-driven architecture

text: This is the second logical layer. An event channel is a mechanism of propagating the information collected from an event generator to the event engine or sink.


title: Event-driven architecture

text: This could be a TCP/IP connection, or any type of an input file (flat, XML format, e-mail, etc.). Several event channels can be opened at the same time. Usually, because the event processing engine has to process them in near real time, the event channels will be read asynchronously. The events are stored in a queue, waiting to be processed later by the event processing engine.


title: Event-driven architecture

text: The event processing engine is the logical layer responsible for identifying an event, and then selecting and executing the appropriate reaction. It can also trigger a number of assertions. For example, if the event that comes into the event processing engine is a product ID low in stock, this may trigger reactions such as “Order product ID” and “Notify personnel”.


title: Event-driven architecture

text: This is the logical layer where the consequences of the event are shown. This can be done in many different ways and forms; e.g., an email is sent to someone and an application may display some kind of warning on the screen. Depending on the level of automation provided by the sink (event processing engine) the downstream activity might not be required.


title: Event-driven architecture

text: There are three general styles of event processing: simple, stream, and complex. The three styles are often used together in a mature event-driven architecture.


title: Event-driven architecture

text: Simple event processing concerns events that are directly related to specific, measurable changes of condition. In simple event processing, a notable event happens which initiates downstream action(s). Simple event processing is commonly used to drive the real-time flow of work, thereby reducing lag time and cost.


title: Event-driven architecture

text: For example, simple events can be created by a sensor detecting changes in tire pressures or ambient temperature. The car's tire incorrect pressure will generate a simple event from the sensor that will trigger a yellow light advising the driver about the state of a tire.


title: Event-driven architecture

text: In event stream processing (ESP), both ordinary and notable events happen. Ordinary events (orders, RFID transmissions) are screened for notability and streamed to information subscribers. Event stream processing is commonly used to drive the real-time flow of information in and around the enterprise, which enables in-time decision making.


title: Event-driven architecture

text: Complex event processing (CEP) allows patterns of simple and ordinary events to be considered to infer that a complex event has occurred. Complex event processing evaluates a confluence of events and then takes action. The events (notable or ordinary) may cross event types and occur over a long period of time. The event correlation may be causal, temporal, or spatial. CEP requires the employment of sophisticated event interpreters, event pattern definition and matching, and correlation techniques. CEP is commonly used to detect and respond to business anomalies, threats, and opportunities.


title: Event-driven architecture

text: Online event processing (OLEP) uses asynchronous distributed event-logs to process complex events and manage persistent data. OLEP allows to reliably compose related events of a complex scenario across heterogeneous systems. It therewith enables very flexible distribution patterns with high scalability and offers strong consistency. However, it cannot guarantee an upper bound to the processing time.


title: Event-driven architecture

text: An event driven architecture is extremely loosely coupled and well distributed. The great distribution of this architecture exists because an event can be almost anything and exist almost anywhere. The architecture is extremely loosely coupled because the event itself doesn't know about the consequences of its cause. e.g. If we have an alarm system that records information when the front door opens, the door itself doesn't know that the alarm system will add information when the door opens, just that the door has been opened.


title: Event-driven architecture

text: Event driven architectures have loose coupling within space, time and synchronization, providing a scalable infrastructure for information exchange and distributed workflows. However, event-architectures are tightly coupled, via event subscriptions and patterns, to the semantics of the underlying event schema and values. The high degree of semantic heterogeneity of events in large and open deployments such as smart cities and the sensor web makes it difficult to develop and maintain event-based systems. In order to address semantic coupling within event-based systems the use of approximate semantic matching of events is an active area of research.


title: Event-driven architecture

text: The Java Swing API is based on an event driven architecture. This works particularly well with the motivation behind Swing to provide user interface related components and functionality. The API uses a nomenclature convention (e.g. "ActionListener" and "ActionEvent") to relate and organize event concerns. A class which needs to be aware of a particular event simply implements the appropriate listener, overrides the inherited methods, and is then added to the object that fires the event. A very simple example could be:


title: Event-driven architecture

text: Alternatively, another implementation choice is to add the listener to the object as an anonymous class and thus use the lambda notation (since Java 1.8). Below is an example.


title: Event-driven architecture

text: Events are one of the fundamental elements of the Object Pascal language. The uni-cast model (one-to-one) is used here, i.e. the sender sends information to only one recipient. This limitation has the advantage that it does not need a special event listener. The event itself is a pointer to a method in another object. If the pointer is not empty, when an event occurs, the event handler is called. Events are commonly used in classes that support GUI. This is not the only area of application for events, however. The following code is an example of using events:


title: PFA Team of the Year

text: The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premier League, the Championship, League One and League Two, as well as the women's FA WSL, who are seen to be deserving of being named in a "Team of the Year". Peter Shilton currently holds the most appearances in the PFA Team of the Year in the top division with 10 appearances. Steven Gerrard currently holds the most appearances in the PFA Team of the Year in the Premier League era with eight appearances.


title: PFA Team of the Year

text: The award has been presented since the 1973–74 season and the shortlist is compiled by the members of the players' trade union, the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), in January of every year, with the winners then being voted for by the other players in their respective divisions. The award is regarded by players in the Football League as the highest accolade available to them, due to it being picked by their fellow professionals. In 2014, a team for female players competing in the FA WSL was selected for the first time.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The economy of Hungary is a high-income mixed economy, ranked as the 9th most complex economy according to the Economic Complexity Index. Hungary is a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with a very high human development index and a skilled labour force, with the 13th lowest income inequality in the world. The Hungarian economy is the 54th-largest economy in the world (out of 188 countries measured by IMF) with $265.037 billion annual output, and ranks 41st in the world in terms of GDP per capita measured by purchasing power parity. Hungary has an export-oriented market economy with a heavy emphasis on foreign trade; thus the country is the 35th largest export economy in the world. The country had more than $100 billion of exports in 2015, with a high trade surplus of $9.003 billion, of which 79% went to the European Union (EU) and 21% was extra-EU trade. Hungary's productive capacity is more than 80% privately owned, with 39.1% overall taxation, which funds the country's welfare economy. On the expenditure side, household consumption is the main component of GDP and accounts for 50% of its total, followed by gross fixed capital formation with 22% and government expenditure with 20%.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Hungary continues to be one of the leading nations in Central and Eastern Europe for attracting foreign direct investment: the inward FDI in the country was $119.8 billion in 2015, while Hungary invests more than $50 billion abroad. As of 2015, the key trading partners of Hungary were Germany, Austria, Romania, Slovakia, France, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic. Major industries include food processing, pharmaceuticals, motor vehicles, information technology, chemicals, metallurgy, machinery, electrical goods, and tourism (in 2014 Hungary welcomed 12.1 million international tourists). Hungary is the largest electronics producer in Central and Eastern Europe. Electronics manufacturing and research are among the main drivers of innovation and economic growth in the country. In the past 20 years Hungary has also grown into a major center for mobile technology, information security, and related hardware research.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The employment rate in the economy was 68.7% in January 2017, while the employment structure shows the characteristics of post-industrial economies. An estimated 63.2% of the employed workforce work in the service sector, industry contributed by 29.7%, while agriculture employed 7.1%. The unemployment rate was 3.8% in September–November 2017, down from 11% during the financial crisis of 2007–08. Hungary is part of the European Single Market which represents more than 448 million consumers. Several domestic commercial policies are determined by agreements among European Union members and by EU legislation.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Large Hungarian companies are included in the BUX, the Hungarian stock market index listed on Budapest Stock Exchange. Well-known companies include MOL Group, the OTP Bank, Gedeon Richter Plc., Magyar Telekom, CIG Pannonia, FHB Bank, and Zwack Unicum. Hungary also has a large number of specialised small and medium enterprises, for example many automotive industry suppliers and technology start ups.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Budapest is the financial and business capital of Hungary. The capital is a significant economic hub, classified as an Alpha- world city in the study by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network and it is the second fastest-developing urban economy in Europe. The per capita GDP in the city increased by 2.4% and employment by 4.7% compared to the previous year, 2014. On the national level, Budapest is the primary city of Hungary for business, accounting for 39% of the national income. The city had a gross metropolitan product of more than $100 billion in 2015, making it one of the largest regional economies in the European Union. Budapest is also among the Top 100 GDP performing cities in the world, as measured by PricewaterhouseCoopers. In a global city competitiveness ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Budapest is ranked above Tel Aviv, Lisbon, Moscow and Johannesburg, among others.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Hungary maintains its own currency, the Hungarian forint (HUF), although the economy fulfills the Maastricht criteria with the exception of public debt. The ratio of public debt to GDP is significantly below the EU average at 66.4% in 2019. The Hungarian National Bank was founded in 1924, after the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is currently focusing on price stability, with an inflation target of 3%.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: In the age of feudalism the key economic factor was land. The new economic and social orders created private ownership of land. There are three forms of existence: the royal, ecclesiastical and secular private estate. The royal estate of the Árpád dynasty had evolved from the tribal lands.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The origin of the secular private holdings dates back to the conquest tribal common estates, which are increasingly in charge of the society and grows over private ownership of the becoming leaders.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: However, from the founding of the state the royal gift also entered the multiplying factors secular private property line. This organization developed a feudal estate, which had two elements: the ancient estate and the possessions which were awarded by Saint Stephen I, and then the royal donations. Over the holder unrestricted right granted by the latter lineal heir almost returned to the king. In the Order of the laws changed in 1351, which abolished the nobility's possessions for free disposal. It forbidden the nobility to sale their inherited land.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The Carpathian Basin was more suitable for agriculture than large livestock grazing, and therefore increased steadily in the former weight. In the 11th and 12th centuries natural farming and soil changer tillage systems met: grazing the animals, and they used the fertilized land until depletion. The most important tools for the agriculture were the plow and the ox.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The Hungarian economy prior to World War II was primarily oriented toward agriculture and small-scale manufacturing. Hungary's strategic position in Europe and its relative high lack of natural resources also have dictated a traditional reliance on foreign trade. For instance, its largest car manufacturer, Magomobil (maker of the "Magosix"), produced a total of a few thousand units. In the early 1920s the textile industry began to expand rapidly, by 1928 it became the most important industry in the foreign trade of Hungary exporting textile goods worth more than 60 million pengős in that year. Companies like MÁVAG exported locomotives to India and South-America, its locomotive no. 601 was the largest and most powerful in Europe at the time.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: From the late 1940s, the Communist government started to nationalize the industry. At first, only factories with more than 100 workers were nationalized; later, this limit was reduced to only 10. In the agriculture, the government started a successful program of collectivization. From the early 1950s, more and more new factories were built. This rapid and forced industrialization followed the standard Stalinist pattern in an effort to encourage a more self-sufficient economy. Most economic activity was conducted by state-owned enterprises or cooperatives and state farms. In 1968, Stalinist self-sufficiency was replaced by the "New Economic Mechanism", which reopened Hungary to foreign trade, gave limited freedom to the workings of the market, and allowed a limited number of small businesses to operate in the services sector.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Although Hungary enjoyed one of the most liberal and economically advanced economies of the former Eastern Bloc, both agriculture and industry began to suffer from a lack of investment in the 1970s, and Hungary's net foreign debt rose significantly—from $1 billion in 1973 to $15 billion in 1993—due largely to consumer subsidies and unprofitable state enterprises. In the face of economic stagnation, Hungary opted to liberalize further by passing a joint venture law, instating an income tax, and joining the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. By 1988, Hungary had developed a two-tier banking system, and had enacted significant corporate legislation that paved the way for the ambitious market-oriented reforms of the post-communist years.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: After the fall of communism, the former Eastern Bloc had to transition from a one-party, centrally planned economy to a market economy with a multi-party political system. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Eastern Bloc countries suffered a significant loss in both markets for goods, and subsidizing from the Soviet Union. Hungary, for example, "lost nearly 70% of its export markets in Eastern and Central Europe." The loss of external markets in Hungary left "800,000 unemployed people because all the unprofitable and unsalvageable factories had been closed." Another form of Soviet subsidizing that greatly affected Hungary after the fall of communism was the loss of social welfare programs. Because of the lack of subsidies and a need to reduce expenditures, many social programs in Hungary had to be cut in an attempt to lower spending. As a result, many people in Hungary suffered incredible hardships during the transition to a market economy. Following privatization and tax reductions on Hungarian businesses, unemployment suddenly rose to 12% in 1991 (it was 1.7% in 1990 ), gradually decreasing until 2001. Economic growth, after a fall in 1991 to −11.9%, gradually grew until the end of the 1990s at an average annual rate of 4.2%. With the stabilization of the new market economy, Hungary has experienced growth in foreign investment with a "cumulative foreign direct investment totaling more than $60 billion since 1989."


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The Antall government of 1990–94 began market reforms with price and trade liberation measures, a revamped tax system, and a nascent market-based banking system. By 1994, however, the costs of government overspending and hesitant privatization had become clearly visible. Cuts in consumer subsidies led to increases in the price of food, medicine, transportation services, and energy. Reduced exports to the former Soviet bloc and shrinking industrial output contributed to a sharp decline in GDP. Unemployment rose rapidly to about 12% in 1993. The external debt burden, one of the highest in Europe, reached 250% of annual export earnings, while the budget and current account deficits approached 10% of GDP. The devaluation of the currency (in order to support exports), without effective stabilization measures, such as indexation of wages, provoked an extremely high inflation rate, that in 1991 reached 35% and slightly decreased until 1994, growing again in 1995. In March 1995, the government of Prime Minister Gyula Horn implemented an austerity program, coupled with aggressive privatization of state-owned enterprises and an export-promoting exchange raw regime, to reduce indebtedness, cut the current account deficit, and shrink public spending. By the end of 1997 the consolidated public sector deficit decreased to 4.6% of GDP—with public sector spending falling from 62% of GDP to below 50%—the current account deficit was reduced to 2% of GDP, and government debt was paid down to 94% of annual export earnings.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The Government of Hungary no longer requires IMF financial assistance and has repaid all of its debt to the fund. Consequently, Hungary enjoys favorable borrowing terms. Hungary's sovereign foreign currency debt issuance carries investment-grade ratings from all major credit-rating agencies, although recently the country was downgraded by Moody's, S&P and remains on negative outlook at Fitch. In 1995 Hungary's currency, the Forint (HUF), became convertible for all current account transactions, and subsequent to OECD membership in 1996, for almost all capital account transactions as well. Since 1995, Hungary has pegged the forint against a basket of currencies (in which the U.S. dollar is 30%), and the central rate against the basket is devalued at a preannounced rate, originally set at 0.8% per month, the Forint is now an entirely free-floating currency. The government privatization program ended on schedule in 1998: 80% of GDP is now produced by the private sector, and foreign owners control 70% of financial institutions, 66% of industry, 90% of telecommunications, and 50% of the trading sector.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: After Hungary's GDP declined about 18% from 1990 to 1993 and grew only 1%–1.5% up to 1996, strong export performance has propelled GDP growth to 4.4% in 1997, with other macroeconomic indicators similarly improving. These successes allowed the government to concentrate in 1996 and 1997 on major structural reforms such as the implementation of a fully funded pension system (partly modelled after Chile's pension system with major modifications), reform of higher education, and the creation of a national treasury. Remaining economic challenges include reducing fiscal deficits and inflation, maintaining stable external balances, and completing structural reforms of the tax system, health care, and local government financing. Recently, the overriding goal of Hungarian economic policy has been to prepare the country for entry into the European Union, which it joined in late 2004.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Prior to the change of regime in 1989, 65% of Hungary's trade was with Comecon countries. By the end of 1997, Hungary had shifted much of its trade to the West. Trade with EU countries and the OECD now comprises over 70% and 80% of the total, respectively. Germany is Hungary's single most important trading partner. The US has become Hungary's sixth-largest export market, while Hungary is ranked as the 72nd largest export market for the U.S. Bilateral trade between the two countries increased 46% in 1997 to more than $1 billion. The U.S. has extended to Hungary most-favored-nation status, the Generalized System of Preferences, Overseas Private Investment Corporation insurance, and access to the Export-Import Bank.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: With about $18 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) since 1989, Hungary has attracted over one-third of all FDI in central and eastern Europe, including the former Soviet Union. Of this, about $6 billion came from American companies. Foreign capital is attracted by skilled and relatively inexpensive labor, tax incentives, modern infrastructure, and a good telecommunications system.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: By 2006 Hungary's economic outlook had deteriorated. Wage growth had kept up with other nations in the region; however, this growth has largely been driven by increased government spending. This has resulted in the budget deficit ballooning to over 10% of GDP and inflation rates predicted to exceed 6%. This prompted Nouriel Roubini, a White House economist in the Clinton administration, to state that "Hungary is an accident waiting to happen."


title: Economy of Hungary

text: In January 1990, the State Privatization Agency (SPA, "Állami Vagyonügynökség") was established to manage the first steps of privatization. Because of Hungary's $21.2 billion foreign debt, the government decided to sell state property instead of distributing it to the people for free. The SPA was attacked by populist groups because several companies' management had the right to find buyers and discuss sale terms with them thus "stealing" the company. Another reason for discontent was that the state offered large tax subsidies and environmental investments, which sometimes cost more than the selling price of the company. Along with the acquisition of companies, foreign investors launched many "greenfield investments".


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The center-right Hungarian Democratic Forum government of 1990–1994 decided to demolish agricultural co-operatives by splitting them up and giving machinery and land to their former members. The government also introduced a Recompensation Law which offered vouchers to people who had owned land before it was nationalized in 1948. These people (or their descendants) could exchange their vouchers for land previously owned by agricultural co-operatives, who were forced to give up some of their land for this purpose.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Small stores and retail businesses were privatized between 1990 and 1994, however, greenfield investments by foreign retail companies like Tesco, Cora and IKEA had a much bigger economic impact. Many public utilities, including the national telecommunications company Matáv, the national oil and gas conglomerate MOL Group, and electricity supply and production companies were privatized as well.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Though most banks were sold to foreign investors, the largest bank, National Savings Bank (OTP), remained Hungarian-owned. 20%–20% of the shares were sold to foreign institutional investors and given to the Social Security organizations, 5% were bought by employees, and 8% was offered at the Budapest Stock Exchange.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Reaching 1995, Hungary's fiscal indices deteriorated: foreign investment fell as well as judgement of foreign analysts on economic outlook. Due to high demand in import goods, Hungary also had a high trade deficit and budget gap, and it could not reach an agreement with the IMF, either.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: After not having a minister of finance for more than a month, prime minister Gyula Horn appointed Lajos Bokros as Finance Minister on 1 March 1995. He introduced a string of austerity measures (the "Bokros Package") on 12 March 1995 which had the following key points: one-time 9% devaluation of the forint, introducing a constant sliding devaluation, 8% additional customs duty on all goods except for energy sources, limitation of growth of wages in the public sector, simplified and accelerated privatization. The package also included welfare cutbacks, including abolition of free higher education and dental service; reduced family allowances, child-care benefits, and maternity payments depending on income and wealth; lowering subsidies of pharmaceuticals, and raising retirement age.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: These reforms not only increased investor confidence, but they were also supported by the IMF and the World Bank, however, they were not welcome widely by the Hungarians; Bokros broke the negative record of popularity: 9% of the population wanted to see him in an "important political position" and only 4% were convinced that the reforms would "improve the country's finances in a big way"


title: Economy of Hungary

text: In 1996, the Ministry of Finance introduced a new pension system instead of the fully state-backed one: private pension savings accounts were introduced, which were 50% social security based and 50% funded.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: In 2006 Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány was reelected on a platform promising economic "reform without austerity".


title: Economy of Hungary

text: However, after the elections in April 2006, the Socialist coalition under Gyurcsány unveiled a package of austerity measures which were designed to reduce the budget deficit to 3% of GDP by 2008.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Declining exports, reduced domestic consumption and fixed asset accumulation hit Hungary hard during the financial crisis of 2008, making the country enter a severe recession of −6.4%, one of the worst economic contractions in its history.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: On 27 October 2008, Hungary reached an agreement with the IMF and EU for a rescue package of US$25 billion, aiming to restore financial stability and investors' confidence.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Because of the uncertainty of the crisis, banks gave less loans which led to a decrease in investment. This along with price-awareness and fear of bankruptcy led to a fallback in consumption which then increased job losses and decreased consumption even further. Inflation did not rise significantly, but real wages decreased.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The fact that the euro and the Swiss franc are worth a lot more in forints than they were before affected a lot of people. According to The Daily Telegraph, "statistics show that more than 60 percent of Hungarian mortgages and car loans are denominated in foreign currencies". After the election in 2010 of the new Fidesz-party government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Hungarian banks were forced to allow the conversion of foreign-currency mortgages to the forint. The new government also nationalized $13 billion of private pension-fund assets, which could then be used to support the government debt position.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The economy showed signs of recovery in 2011 with decreasing tax rates and a moderate 1.7 percent GDP growth.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: From November 2011 to January 2012, all three major credit rating agencies downgraded Hungarian debt to a non-investment speculative grade, commonly called "junk status". In part this is because of political changes creating doubts about the independence of the Hungarian National Bank.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: European Commission President José Manuel Barroso wrote to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stating that new central bank regulations, allowing political intervention, "seriously harm" Hungary's interests, postponing talks on a financial aid package. Orbán responded "If we don't reach an agreement, we'll still stand on our own feet."


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The European Commission launched legal proceedings against Hungary on 17 January 2012. The procedures concern Hungary's central bank law, the retirement age for judges and prosecutors and the independence of the data protection office, respectively. One day later Orbán indicated in a letter his willingness to find solutions to the problems raised in the infringement proceedings. On 18 January he participated in plenary session of the European Parliament which also dealt with the Hungarian case. He said "Hungary has been renewed and reorganised under European principles". He also said that the problems raised by the European Union can be resolved "easily, simply and very quickly". He added that none of the EC's objections affected Hungary's new constitution.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Following the mild recession of 2012, the GDP picked up again from 2014, and based on the commission's Winter 2015 forecast it was projected to have accelerated to 3.3%. The more dynamic economic performance attributed to a moderately growing domestic demand and supported the growth of gross fixed capital formation. The surge (3.8% in the first half of 2014), however was only achieved via temporary measures and factors, such as the stepped-up absorption of EU-funds and the central bank's Funding for Growth Scheme, which subsidised loans for small-and medium-sized enterprises. The fundaments of growth didn't considerably change in 2015 as well – the government supported EU-fund transfers along with the moderately successful central bank loans of economic revitalization – fueled the fair GDP growth.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The hungarian GDP, GDP per capita, living standards and wages have been steadily rising until the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, when just like the rest of Europe, the stats above tanked. GDP fell to $155 Billion, GDP PPP has fallen to $322 Billion, GDP per capita to $15,855, inflation slightly rose to 4.54%.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The country was hard hit, unemployment was also higher than average until 2021 when after the lockdowns have stopped, everything started going back to normal again. The GDP, GDP per capita, GDP PPP, inflation, unemployment and national debt have all recovered to and beyond their pre-covid values.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Hungary's total land area is 93,030 km along with 690 km of water surface area which altogether makes up 1% of Europe's area.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Nearly 75% of Hungary's landscape consists of flat plains. Additional 20% of the country's area consists of foothills whose altitude is 400 m at the most; higher hills and water surface makes up the remaining 5%.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The two flat plains that take up three-quarters of Hungary's area are the Great Hungarian Plain and the Little Hungarian Plain. Hungary's most significant natural resource is arable land. About 83% of the country's total territory is suitable for cultivation; of this portion, 75% (around 50% of the country's area) is covered by arable land, which is an outstanding ratio compared to other EU countries. Hungary lacks extensive domestic sources of energy and raw materials needed for further industrial development.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: 19% of the country is covered by forests. These are located mainly in the foothills such as the North Hungarian and the Transdanubian Mountains, and the Alpokalja. The composition of forests is various; mostly oak or beech, but the rest include fir, willow, acacia and plane.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: In European terms, Hungary's underground water reserve is one of the largest. Hence the country is rich in brooks and hot springs as well as medicinal springs and spas; as of 2003, there are 1250 springs that provide water warmer than 30 °C. 90% of Hungary's drinking water is mostly retrieved from such sources.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The major rivers of Hungary are the Danube and the Tisza. The Danube also flows through parts of Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Serbia, and Romania. It is navigable within Hungary for 418 km. The Tisza River is navigable for 444 km in the country. Hungary has three major lakes. Lake Balaton, the largest, is 78 km long and from 3 to 14 km wide, with an area of 592 km. Lake Balaton is Central Europe's largest lake and a prosperous tourist spot and recreation area. Its shallow waters offer summer bathing and during the winter its frozen surface provides facilities for winter sports. Smaller bodies of water include Lake Velence (26 km) in Fejér County and Lake Fertő (82 km within Hungary).


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The waters of the country are in danger, since more water is going out of the county than in. In 2022, a severe drought which has impacted all of Europe is endangering among others, Lake Velence, Lake Balaton, the Danube and Tisza rivers. The flow of the aforementioned rivers have been modified in the late 19th century, and while it prevented larger floods and helped water transport, it has its downsides, such as the inability to support large-scale watering of crops, worsening the drought of 2022. Large-scale reforms and rebuilding of the Alföld water system is needed, but no such plans are being announced by the government as of 2022.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Hungary has 31,058 km of roads and motorways of 1,118 km. The total length of motorways has doubled in the last ten years with the most (106) kilometers built in 2006. Budapest is directly connected to the Austrian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Croatian, Romanian and Serbian borders via motorways.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Due to its location and geographical features, several transport corridors cross Hungary. Pan-European corridors no. IV, V, and X, and European routes no. E60, E71, E73, E75, and E77 go through Hungary. Thanks to its radial road system, all of these routes touch Budapest.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: There are five international, four domestic, four military and several non-public airports in Hungary. The largest airport is the Budapest Ferihegy International Airport (BUD) located at the southeastern border of Budapest. In 2008, the airport had 3,866,452 arriving and 3,970,951 departing passengers.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Piped gas is available in 2873 settlements, 91.1% of all of them. To avoid gas shortages due to Ukrainian pipeline shutdowns like the one in January 2009, Hungary participates both in the Nabucco and the South Stream gas pipeline projects. Hungary also has strategical gas reserves: the latest reserve of 1.2 billion cubic meters was opened in October 2009.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: In 2008, 94.9% of households had running water. Though it is the responsibility of municipal governments to provide people with healthy water supply, the Hungarian government and the European Union offer subsidies to those who wish to develop water supplies or sewage systems. Partly because of these subsidies, 71.3% of all dwellings are connected to the sewage system, up from 50,1% in 2000.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Internet penetration has been rising significantly over the past few years: the ratio of households having an internet connection has risen from 22.1% (49% of which was broadband) in 2005 to 48.4% (87.3% of which was broadband) in 2008.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The Ministry of Economy and Transport introduced the eHungary program in 2004 aiming to provide every person in Hungary with internet access by setting up "eHungary points" in public spaces like libraries, schools and cultural centers. The program also includes "the introduction of the eCounsellor network – a service through which professionals provide assistance for citizens in the effective usage of electronic information, services and knowledge".


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Agriculture accounted for 4.3% of GDP in 2008 and along with the food industry occupied roughly 7.7% of the labor force. These two figures represent only the primary agricultural production: along with related businesses, agriculture makes up about 13% of the GDP. Hungarian agriculture is virtually self-sufficient and due to traditional reasons export-oriented: exports related to agriculture make up 20–25% of the total. About half of Hungary's total land area is agricultural area under cultivation; this ratio is prominent among other EU members. This is due to the country's favorable conditions including continental climate and the plains that make up about half of Hungary's landscape. The most important crops are wheat, corn, sunflower, potato, sugar beet, canola and a wide variety of fruits (notably apple, peach, pear, grape, watermelon, plum etc.). Hungary has several wine regions producing among others the worldwide famous white dessert wine Tokaji and the red Bull's Blood. Another traditional world-famous alcoholic drink is the fruit brandy "pálinka".


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Mainly cattle, pigs, poultry and sheep are raised in the country. The livestock includes the Hungarian Grey Cattle which is a major tourist attraction in the Hortobágy National Park. An important component of the country's gastronomic heritage is foie gras with about 33,000 farmers engaged in the industry. Hungary is the second largest world producer and the biggest exporter of foie gras (exporting mainly to France).


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Another symbol of Hungarian agriculture and cuisine is the "paprika" (both sweet and hot types). The country is one of the leading paprika producers of the world with Szeged and Kalocsa being the centres of production.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Hungary produced, in 2018, 7.9 million tons of maize (15th largest producer in the world); 5.2 million tons of wheat; 1.8 million tons of sunflower seed (8th largest producer in the world); 1.1 million tons of barley; 1 million tons of rapeseed (14th largest producer in the world); 941 thousand tons of sugar beet, which is used to produce sugar and ethanol; 674 thousand tons of apple; 539 thousand tons of grape; 330 thousand tons of potato; 330 thousand tons of triticale; in addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Hungary has a tax-funded universal healthcare system, organized by the state-owned National Healthcare Fund (). Health insurance is not directly paid for by children, mothers or fathers with baby, students, pensioners, people with socially poor background, handicapped people (including physical and mental disorders), priests and other church employees. Health in Hungary can be described with a rapidly growing life expectancy and a very low infant mortality rate (4.9 per 1,000 live births in 2012). Hungary spent 7.4% of the GDP on health care in 2009 (it was 7.0% in 2000), lower than the average of the OECD. Total health expenditure was 1,511 US$ per capita in 2009, 1,053 US$ governmental-fund (69.7%) and 458 US$ private-fund (30.3%) but has now risen to 2047 US$ per capita (as per 2018 data), roughly a 33% increase total, with the government funding 1439 US$ (70.3%) of the total versus the private funding 608 US$ (29.7%). This amount totals to 6.6% of the country's total GDP, roughly a percent decrease overall.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The main sectors of Hungarian industry are heavy industry (mining, metallurgy, machine and steel production), energy production, mechanical engineering, chemicals, food industry and automobile production. The industry is leaning mainly on processing industry and (including construction) accounted for 29.32% of GDP in 2008. Due to the sparse energy and raw material resources, Hungary is forced to import most of these materials to satisfy the demands of the industry. Following the transition to market economy, the industry underwent restructuring and remarkable modernization. The leading industry is machinery, followed by chemical industry (plastic production, pharmaceuticals), while mining, metallurgy and textile industry seemed to be losing importance in the past two decades. In spite of the significant drop in the last decade, food industry is still giving up to 14% of total industrial production and amounts to 7–8% of the country's exports.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Nearly 50% of energy consumption is dependent on imported energy sources. Gas and oil are transported through pipelines from Russia forming 72% of the energy structure, while nuclear power produced by the nuclear power station of Paks accounts for 53,6%.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Hungary is a favoured destination of foreign investors of automotive industry resulting in the presence of General Motors (Szentgotthárd), Magyar Suzuki (Esztergom), Mercedes-Benz (Kecskemét), and Audi factory (Győr) in Central Europe.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: 17% of the total Hungarian exports comes from the exports of Audi, Opel and Suzuki. The sector employs about 90,000 people in more than 350 car component manufacturing companies.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Audi has built the largest engine manufacturing plant of Europe (third largest in the world) in Győr becoming Hungary's largest exporter with total investments reaching over €3,300 million until 2007. Audi's workforce assembles the Audi TT, the Audi TT Roadster and the A3 Cabriolet in Hungary. The plant delivers engines to carmakers Volkswagen, Skoda, Seat and also to Lamborghini.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Daimler-Benz invests €800 million ($1.2 billion) and creates up to 2,500 jobs at a new assembly plant in Kecskemét, Hungary with capacity for producing 100,000 Mercedes-Benz compact cars a year.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Opel produced 80,000 Astra and 4,000 Vectra cars from March 1992 until 1998 in Szentgotthárd, Hungary. Today, the plant produces about half million engines and cylinder heads a year.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The tertiary sector accounted for 64% of GDP in 2007 and its role in the Hungarian economy is steadily growing due to constant investments into transport and other services in the last 15 years. Located in the heart of Central-Europe, Hungary's geostrategic location plays a significant role in the rise of the service sector as the country's central position makes it suitable and rewarding to invest.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The total value of imports was 68.62 billion euros, the value of exports was 68.18 billion euros in 2007. The external trade deficit decreased by 12.5% since the previous year, easing down from 2.4 billion to 308 million euros in 2007. In the same year, 79% of Hungary's export and 70% of the imports were transacted inside the EU.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Tourism employs nearly 150 thousand people and the total income from tourism was 4 billion euros in 2008. One of Hungary's top tourist destinations is Lake Balaton, the largest freshwater lake in Central Europe, with a number of 1.2 million visitors in 2008. The most visited region is Budapest, the Hungarian capital attracted 3.61 million visitors in 2008.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Hungary was the world's 24th most visited country in 2011. The Hungarian spa culture is world-famous, with thermal baths of all sorts and over 50 spa hotels located in many towns, each of which offer the opportunity of a pleasant, relaxing holiday and a wide range of quality medical and beauty treatments.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The currency of Hungary is the Hungarian forint (HUF, Ft) since 1 August 1946. A forint consists of 100 fillérs; however, since these have not been in circulation since 1999, they are only used in accounting.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: There are six coins (5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200) and six banknotes (500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10,000 and 20,000). The 1 and 2 Forint coins were withdrawn in 2008, yet prices remained the same as stores follow the official rounding scheme for the final price. The 200 Forint note was withdrawn on 16 November 2009.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Education in Hungary is free and compulsory from the age of 5 to 16. The state provides free pre-primary schooling for all children, 8 years of general education and 4 years of upper secondary level general or vocational education. Higher education system follows the three-cycle structure and the credit system of the bologna process. Governments aim to reach European standards and encourage international mobility by putting emphasis on digital literacy, and enhancing foreign language studies: all secondary level schools teach foreign languages and at least one language certificate is needed for the acquisition of a diploma. Over the past decade, this resulted in a drastic increase in the number of people speaking at least one foreign language.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Financial sources for education are mainly provided by the state (making up 5.1–5.3% of the annual GDP). In order to improve the quality of higher education, the government encourages contributions by students and companies. Another important contributor is the EU.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The system has weaknesses, the most important being segregation and unequal access to quality education. The 2006 PISA report concluded that while students from comprehensive schools did better than the OECD average, pupils from vocational secondary schools did much worse. Another problem is of the higher education's: response to regional and labour market needs is insufficient. Government plans include improving the career guidance system and establishing a national digital network that will enable the tracking of jobs and facilitate the integration into the labour market.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: As most post-communist countries, Hungary's economy is affected by its social stratification in terms of income and wealth, age, gender and racial inequalities.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Hungary's Gini coefficient of 0.269 ranks 11th in the world. The graph on the right shows that Hungary is close in equality to the world-leader Denmark. The highest 10% of the population gets 22.2% of the incomes. According to the business magazine "Napi Gazdaság", the owner of the biggest fortune, 300 billion HUF, is Sándor Demján. On the other hand, the lowest 10% gets 4% of the incomes. Considering the standard EU indicators (Percentage of the population living under 60% of the per capita median income), 13% of the Hungarian population is stricken by poverty. According to the Human Development Report, the country's HPI-1 value is 2.2% (3rd among 135 countries), and its HDI value is 0.879 (43rd out of 182).


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The fertility rate in Hungary, just like in many European countries, is very low: 1.34 children/women (205th in the world) Life expectancy at birth is 73.3 years., while the expected number of healthy years is 57.6 for females and 53.5 for males. The average life expectancy overall is 73.1 years.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Hungary's GDI (gender-related development index) value of 0.879 is 100% of its HDI value (3rd best in the world). 55.5% of the female population (between 15 and 64) participate in the labour force, and the ratio of girls to boys in primary and secondary education is 99%.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Ethnic inequality, which strikes primarily Roma in Hungary, is a serious problem. Although the definition of the Roma identity is controversial, qualitative studies prove that the Roma employment rate decreased significantly following the fall of Communism: due to the tremendous layoffs of unskilled workers during the transition years, more than one-third of Roma were excluded from the labour market. Therefore, this ethnic conflict is inherently interconnected with the income inequalities in the country – at least two-thirds of the poorest 300,000 people in Hungary are Romas. Furthermore, ethnic discrimination is outstandingly high, 32% of Romas experience discrimination when looking for work. Consequently, new Roma entrants to the labour market are rarely able to find employment, which creates a motivation deficit and further reinforces segregation and unemployment.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Twenty years after the change of the regime, corruption remains a severe issue in Hungary. According to Transparency International Hungary, almost one-third of top managers claim they regularly bribe politicians. Most people (42%) in Hungary think that the sector most affected by bribery is the political party system. Bribery is common in the healthcare system in the form of gratitude payment–92% of all people think that some payment should be made to the head surgeon conducting a heart operation or an obstetrician for a child birth.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Another problem is the administrative burden: in terms of the ease of doing business, Hungary ranks 47th out of 183 countries in the world. The five days' time required to start a new business ranks 29th, and the country is 122nd concerning the ease of paying taxes.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: In accordance with the theory of the separation of powers, the judicial system is independent from the legislative and the executive branches. Consequently, courts and prosecutions are not influenced by the government. However, the legal system is slow and overburdened, which makes proceedings and rulings lengthy and inefficient. Such a justice system is hardly capable of prosecuting corruption and protecting the country's financial interests.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The Hungarian organization responsible for controlling the country's monetary policy is the Hungarian National Bank (Hungarian: "Magyar Nemzeti Bank", MNB) which is the central bank in Hungary. According to the Hungarian Law of National Bank (which became operative in 2001. – LVIII. Law about The Hungarian National Bank), the primary objective of MNB is to achieve and maintain price stability. This aim is in line with the European and international practice.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Price stability means achieving and maintaining a basically low, but positive inflation rate. This level is around 2–2.5% according to international observations, while the European Central Bank "aims at inflation rates of below, but close to 2% over the medium term". Since Hungary is in the process of catching up (Balassa-Samuelson effect), the long-term objective is a slightly higher figure, around 2.3–3.2%. Therefore, the medium term inflation target of the Hungarian National Bank is 3%.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Concerning the exchange rate system, the floating exchange rate system is in use since 26 February 2008, as a result of which HUF is fluctuating in accordance with the effects of the market in the face of the reference currency, the euro.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: The chart on the right shows forint exchange rates for the British pound (GBP), euro (EUR), Swiss franc (CHF), and the U.S. dollar (USD) from June 2008 to September 2009. It indicates that a relatively strong forint weakened since the beginning of the financial crisis, and that its value has recently taken an upward turn.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Compared to the euro the forint was at peak on 18 June 2008 when 1000 Ft was €4.36 and €1 was 229.11Ft. The forint was worth the least on 6 March 2009; this day 1000 Ft was €3.16 and €1 was 316Ft).


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Compared to USD, most expensive/cheapest dates are 22 June 2008 and 6 March 2009 with 1000HUF/USD rates 6.94 and 4.01 respectively.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: In Hungary, state revenue makes up 44% and expenditure makes up 45% of the GDP which is relatively high compared to other EU members. This can be traced back to historical reasons such as socialist economic tradition as well as cultural characteristics that endorse paternalist behaviour on the state's part, meaning that people have a habitual reflex that make them call for state subsidies. Some economists dispute this point, claiming that expenditure ran up to today's critical amount from 2001, during two left-wing government cycles.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Along with joining the EU the country undertook the task of joining the Eurozone as well. Therefore, the Maastricht criteria which forms the condition of joining the Eurozone acts as an authoritative guideline to Hungarian fiscal politics. Although there has been remarkable progress, recent years' statistics still point at significant discrepancies between the criteria and fiscal indices. The target date for adapting the Euro has not been fixed, either.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: General government deficit has shown a drastic decline to −3.4% (2008) from −9.2% (2006). According to an MNB forecast however, until 2011, the deficit will by a small margin fall short of the 3.0% criterion.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Another criterion that is found lacking is the ratio of gross government debt to GDP which, since 2005, exceeds the allowed 60%. According to an ESA95 figure, in 2008 the ratio increased from 65.67% to 72.61%, which primarily results from the requisition of an IMF-arranged financial assistance package.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Hungary's balance of payments on its current account has been negative since 1995, around 6–8% in the 2000s reaching a negative peak 8.5% in 2008. Still, current account deficit will expectedly decrease in the following period, as imports will diminish compared to exports as an effect of the financial crisis.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: In Hungary, the 1988 reform of taxes introduced a comprehensive tax system which mainly consists of central and local taxes, including a personal income tax, a corporate income tax and a value added tax. Among the total tax income the ratio of local taxes is solely 5% while the EU average is 30%. Until 2010, the taxation of an individual was progressive, determining the tax rate based on the individual's income: with earning up to 1,900,000 forints a year, the tax was 18%, the tax on incomes above this limit was 36% since 1 July 2009.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Based on the new one-rate tax regime introduced January 2011, the overall tax rate for all income-earnings bands has been 16%. According to the income-tax returns of 2008, 14,6% of taxpayers was charged for 64,5% of the total tax burdens. Before the new corporate income tax regime, the corporate tax was fixed at 16% of the positive rateable value, with an additional tax called solidarity tax of 4%, the measure of which is calculated based on the result before tax of the company (the solidarity tax has been in use since September, 2006). The actual rateable value might be different is the two cases. From January 2011, under the new corporate income tax regime the tax rate was divided into two parts (i) corporations having income before tax below 500 million HUF (appr. USD 2.5 million) was lowered to 10% and (ii) 16% remained for all other companies until 2013. After this, the unified corporate income tax rate will be 10%, irrespectively from the size of the net income before tax. In January 2017, corporate tax was unified at a rate of 9% – the lowest in the European Union. The rate of value added tax in Hungary is 27%, the highest in Europe, since 1 January 2012.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Households with access to fixed and mobile telephony Quick facts – Telecommunication market in Hungary – Hungarian Statistical office (3Q 2011)


title: Economy of Hungary

text: Hungary joined the European Union on 05/01/2004 after a successful referendum among the EU-10. The EU's free trade system helps Hungary, as it is a relatively small country and thus needs export and import.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: After the accession to the EU, Hungarian workers could immediately go to work to Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Other countries imposed restrictions.


title: Economy of Hungary

text: In 2007, 25% of all exports of Hungary were of high technology, which is the 5th largest ratio in the European Union after Malta, Cyprus, Ireland, and the Netherlands. The EU10 average was 17.1% and the Eurozone average was 16% in 2007.


title: Big Baller Brand

text: Big Baller Brand (BBB) is an American company that designs, manufactures, and sells clothing and shoes. Launched in 2016 by Alan Foster and LaVar Ball, it has most notably produced signature shoes for the Ball brothers—basketball players Lonzo Ball, LaMelo Ball, and LiAngelo Ball. Big Baller Brand has additionally been involved in the creation of the Junior Basketball Association (JBA), which it fully funded, and both the Big Baller Brand Challenge Games and Big Baller Brand International Tournament, which were a series of Lithuanian exhibition games hosted by BC Vytautas (featuring LaMelo and LiAngelo Ball).


title: Big Baller Brand

text: On April 14, 2016, Big Baller Brand announced that it would soft launch by June 2016. Founded by personal trainer and former football player LaVar Ball and Alan Foster, the company was built on "core family values", according to its website. Ball later said that he created Big Baller Brand, which was based in Chino Hills, California, for his three sons: Lonzo, LiAngelo, and LaMelo Ball, who all played basketball at Chino Hills High School when it was established. He also stated that each of the three Bs on the company's logo stands for one of his sons.


title: Big Baller Brand

text: Upon its launch in June, Big Baller Brand initially sold T-shirts, shorts, and sweatshirts through its online store. It partnered with a local design, printing, and shipping company, Garment Decor. In 2017, it also began working with sneaker company Brandblack for assistance in its shoe design. To maintain independence from Big Baller Brand, however, Brandblack created an offshoot creative agency Santa Ana Design for the partnership. Foster, a family friend of LaVar Ball, additionally become a manager and business associate of Big Baller Brand, helping design its signature shoes.


title: Big Baller Brand

text: On March 7, 2017, Big Baller Brand was registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and its official slogan "Built for this" was trademarked on February 7, 2018 after being filed for in May 2017.


title: Big Baller Brand

text: In March 2019, it was reported that Lonzo Ball severed ties with Foster, after concerns of his criminal past and alleged misuse of $1.5 million of Ball's personal and business accounts.


title: Big Baller Brand

text: In April 2019, the Big Baller Brand website was shut down. When accessing the website, a notice that says "Thank you for visiting Big Baller Brand. Our website is under construction we will be back soon. Thank you." was shown. As of November 2019, the site's splash page directed visitors to click the BBB logo to go to a shopping page. Instead, guests who click were redirected to the official home page of Alan Foster. Big Baller Brand promised a separate web site in the near future. As of December 2020, a new version of the site appeared to be up and running.


title: Big Baller Brand

text: In May 2017, Big Baller Brand announced a November 2017 release of its first signature shoe, the ZO2 for Lonzo Ball. The base price of $495 garnered significant media attention. LaVar Ball responded on Twitter to critiques of the shoes' price: "If you can't afford the ZO2'S, you're NOT a BIG BALLER", for which he received further media criticism. In an interview with Colin Cowherd in May 2017, Ball said that if the big shoe companies like Nike, Adidas, or Under Armour want to make a deal with his Big Baller Brand, the asking price is $3 billion. He also said that Baller has sold between 400 and 520 ZO2 shoes. In another interview, Ball described the shoes as "stitching and glue", stating that they were "not that big of a deal".


title: Big Baller Brand

text: On August 31, 2017, it announced the release of a signature shoe for LaMelo Ball, called the Melo Ball 1 (MB1), which was scheduled to be available in late 2017. According to Big Baller Brand, the shoe will be exceptionally light upon a request by Ball himself. The MB1 is currently priced at $395.


title: Big Baller Brand

text: On December 4, 2017, Big Baller Brand revealed plans to create a signature shoe, known as the Gelo 3, for LiAngelo Ball after he left UCLA, following a shoplifting incident in China. Similar to the MB1, the Gelo 3 is also set at around $395. However, his shoes would later be renamed to the G3 Lux during his playing time in Lithuania.


title: Big Baller Brand

text: The company's founder, LaVar Ball, also announced he would have signature shoes of not just his own, but a brand for his wife as well. LaVar's shoes are considered to be named "LaVariccis", while Tina Ball's signature shoes would be named "The Comeback", which was inspired by her recovery from a stroke she had in 2017.


title: Big Baller Brand

text: On October 17, 2018, Big Baller Brand released a cheaper version of Lonzo's shoe, the ZO2.19, priced at $200.


title: Big Baller Brand

text: After LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball signed their first professional contracts with Vytautas Prienai–Birštonas of the Lithuanian Basketball League (LKL), Big Baller Brand saw an increased presence in Lithuania in 2018. On February 9, 2018, Big Baller Brand announced its partnership with the Lithuanian bottled water company Birštonas Mineral Water, a sponsor of Vytautas. LaVar Ball stated that Big Baller Brand would import water from Lithuania to the United States with a price similar to Perrier and S.Pellegrino products.


title: Big Baller Brand

text: On December 20, 2017, LaVar Ball announced the creation of the Junior Basketball Association (JBA), a professional league completely funded by Big Baller Brand that is designed as an alternative to college basketball for high school graduates. The league, which launched in the summer of 2018, was expected to pay players $3,000 to $10,000 per month and include teams from several major American cities. According to Ball, players will be required to exclusively wear Big Baller Brand products, with uniforms, shoes, and other apparel provided by the company. On May 4, 2018, LaVar's youngest son, LaMelo Ball, was confirmed to be one of the players entering the upstart league, while also being touted as the face of the league by his father.


title: Big Baller Brand

text: On January 5, 2018, Vytautas, the first professional team of LaMelo and LiAngelo Ball, announced that it would withdraw from the Baltic Basketball League (BBL) and in its place host five exhibition games to showcase the Ball brothers, called the Big Baller Brand Challenge Games. The games, which took place from January 9 to 29 and were live streamed through Facebook, featured widespread advertisement of Big Baller Brand, with Business Insider commenting that the company was "the real star of the show". Shortly after the Ball brothers began playing professionally, LaVar Ball heavily invested in Vytautas, helping it pay off its debts and allowing Big Baller Brand to become the team's main sponsor as a result. The team was also involved with the Big Baller Brand International Tournament and a few other exhibition games involving the Chinese Basketball Association's Guangdong Southern Tigers and the British Basketball League's London Lions during the 2017–18 season, with the Big Baller Brand's founder coaching the team during those events.


title: Big Baller Brand

text: On February 15, 2018, Lonzo Ball released his debut rap album, Born 2 Ball, under the Big Baller Music Group. The label was a subsidiary of the Big Baller Brand and would be run by a close friend of LaVar's.


title: Big Baller Brand

text: In April 2018, after previously wearing the ZO2 shoes during a game, Jordan Crawford was the first professional basketball player not related to the Ball family to look into having a partnership with the company. Crawford also gave the company words of approval for what they are doing. A month later, rapper Quavo of Migos fame was seen promoting Lonzo Ball's Big Baller Brand merchandise on Instagram, with later reports suggesting that Quavo would be an ambassador of the Big Baller Brand.


title: Big Baller Brand

text: In January 2018, Big Baller Brand was given an F grade by the Better Business Bureau, which said that Big Baller Brand "has a pattern of complaints", specifically that many customers have had to wait "weeks or even months to receive their order". Some customers alleged that they have received the wrong merchandise or even nothing at all, and that it had been difficult to contact the company. In May 2018, All-Star baseball player Adam Jones complained on social media that he just received his ZO2 Prime Remix shoes after ordering them a year earlier. A year later, Blair Looney of the Better Business Bureau stated that the Big Baller Brand still had an F grade and that "we are continuing to work with them on straightening things out."


title: Lymari Nadal

text: Lymari Nadal Torres (born 11 February 1978) is a Puerto Rican actress, film producer and scriptwriter. She has performed in several films including "American Gangster" and "Battlestar Galactica: The Plan." In 2011, she also produced her own film, "America", which she also wrote.


title: Lymari Nadal

text: Nadal was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, to Daniel Nadal and Anaida Torres. She graduated from high school at Academia Santa María. She received her first college degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico. In an interview, she described herself as "Ponce-blooded."


title: Lymari Nadal

text: In 2001, she moved to Los Angeles, California, and married actor and director Edward James Olmos in 2002. The two separated in 2013.


title: Duke of Lancaster

text: The Dukedom of Lancaster is an English peerage merged into the crown. It was created three times in the Middle Ages, but finally merged in the Crown when Henry V succeeded to the throne in 1413. Despite the extinction of the dukedom the title has continued to be used to refer to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom in relation to the County Palatine of Lancaster and the Duchy of Lancaster, an estate held separately from the Crown Estate for the benefit of the sovereign.


title: Duke of Lancaster

text: There were three creations of the Dukedom of Lancaster during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The first creation was on 6 March 1351 for Henry of Grosmont, 4th Earl of Lancaster, a great-grandson of Henry III; he was also 4th Earl of Leicester, 1st Earl of Derby, 1st Earl of Lincoln and Lord of Bowland. When he died in 1361 the peerage became extinct.


title: Duke of Lancaster

text: The second creation was on 13 November 1362, for John of Gaunt, 1st Earl of Richmond and third surviving son of King Edward III. He became Henry of Grosmont's son-in-law through his marriage to Blanche of Lancaster, Henry's second daughter and eventual heir. When Gaunt died on 4 February 1399 the dukedom passed to his son, Henry of Bolingbroke, 1st Duke of Hereford. Later that same year Bolingbroke usurped the throne of England from Richard II, becoming Henry IV, at which point the Dukedom merged in the Crown.


title: Duke of Lancaster

text: Henry re-created the dukedom on 10 November 1399 for his eldest son Henry of Monmouth, Prince of Wales. In 1413 Monmouth ascended the throne as King Henry V and the dukedom merged in the crown again, where it has remained ever since.


title: Duke of Lancaster

text: Nevertheless, the title continues to be used to refer to the monarch in relation to Lancashire and the Duchy of Lancaster, the estate associated with the former dukedom. It was customary at formal dinners in the historic county boundaries of Lancashire and in Lancastrian regiments of the armed forces for the Loyal Toast to be announced as "The King, Duke of Lancaster". In addition, in Lancaster it is still common to hear the national anthem sung as "God save our gracious King, long live our noble Duke". However, the legal basis for the sovereign to use the title has been disputed as the right to the title may have had different heirs to the right to the duchy’s lands. In particular, George V was given legal advice that it was “extremely unlikely” that he was the Duke of Lancaster.


title: Grise Fiord

text: Grise Fiord (; ) is an Inuit hamlet on the southern tip of Ellesmere Island, in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is one of three populated places on the island; despite its low population (144 residents as of the 2021 Canadian census), it is the largest community (and only public community) on Ellesmere Island. The hamlet at Grise Fiord, created by the Canadian Government in 1953 through a relocation of Inuit families from Inukjuak, Quebec, is the northernmost public community in Canada. It is also one of the coldest inhabited places in the world, with an average yearly temperature of .


title: Grise Fiord

text: This community (and that of Resolute) was created by the Canadian government in 1953, partly to assert sovereignty in the High Arctic during the Cold War. Eight Inuit families from Inukjuak, Quebec (on the Ungava Peninsula), were relocated after being promised homes and game to hunt, but the relocated people discovered no buildings and very little familiar wildlife. They were told that they would be returned home after a year if they wished, but this offer was later withdrawn, for it would have damaged Canada's claims to sovereignty in the area; the Inuit were forced to stay. Eventually, the Inuit learned the local beluga whale migration routes and were able to survive in the area, hunting over a range of each year.


title: Grise Fiord

text: In 1993, the Canadian government held hearings to investigate the relocation program. The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples issued a report entitled "The High Arctic Relocation: A Report on the 1953–55 Relocation", recommending a settlement. The government paid CAD10 million to the survivors and their families, and gave a formal apology in 2010.


title: Grise Fiord

text: In 2009, artist and Grise Fiord resident Looty Pijamini was commissioned by Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated to build a monument to commemorate the Inuit who sacrificed so much as a result of the Government's forced relocation programme of 1953 and 1955. Pijamini's monument, located in Grise Fiord, depicts a woman with a young boy and a husky, with the woman sombrely looking out towards Resolute Bay. Amagoalik's monument, located in Resolute, depicts a lone man looking towards Grise Fiord. This was meant to show separated families, and depicting them longing to see each other again. The Grise Fiord monument was unveiled by John Duncan, at the time, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians, on September 10, 2010.


title: Grise Fiord

text: Grise Fiord was the location for a 1995 BBC documentary entitled "Billy Connolly: A Scot in the Arctic", in which the comedian Billy Connolly camped alone for a week on the pack ice near to the community, armed with a rifle to protect him from polar bears.


title: Grise Fiord

text: Located at the southern tip of Ellesmere Island, Grise Fiord is one of three permanent inhabited places on the island; further north on the island Environment Canada has a permanent weather station at Eureka, and at Alert there is a permanent Canadian Forces Base (CFS Alert) and weather station. Grise Fiord lies north of the Arctic Circle, and is the northernmost civilian community in Canada.


title: Grise Fiord

text: In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Grise Fiord had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.


title: Grise Fiord

text: Just to the north of the community is the actual fiord, Grise Fiord. It means "pig inlet" in Norwegian. Otto Sverdrup from Norway named it so during an expedition around 1900 because he thought the walrus in the area sounded like pigs.


title: Grise Fiord

text: The houses are wooden and built on platforms to cope with the freezing and thawing of the permafrost. Hunting is still an important part of the lifestyle of the mostly Inuit population. Quota systems allow the villagers to supply many of their needs from populations of seals, walruses, narwhal and beluga whales, polar bears and muskox. Ecotourism is developing as people come to see the northern wildlife found on Ellesmere and surrounding islands.


title: Grise Fiord

text: There are no connecting roads on Ellesmere Island, so Grise Fiord is connected to the rest of the world by a small airstrip (Grise Fiord Airport), in length. Surrounded by mountains, it has one of the most difficult approaches for aircraft; it is cautioned that only very experienced pilots of Pilatus PC-12, DHC-6 Twin Otter, and DHC-7 aircraft attempt the approach.


title: Grise Fiord

text: For local travel needs, the villagers use all-terrain vehicles in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter. During the winter months travel is limited to the town site and a small patch of land to the east called Nuvuk due to mountains and ice fields that cut the town off from the rest of the island. Small boats are used in summer to reach hunting grounds, or hunting sea mammals on the ocean. Once a year large ships (sealift) arrive with supplies and fuel.


title: Grise Fiord

text: The local co-operative is the main place to purchase supplies. There are local guide and outfitting operations, which are an important source of income for many families. Carving, traditional clothing and other Inuit crafts are also important sources of income. Due to the extreme location, the economy is subsistence-based. Because of the potential for avalanches and falling rocks from mountains, there is no room for expansion.


title: Grise Fiord

text: In 1970, Bell Canada established what was then the world's most northerly telephone exchange (operated since 1992 by Northwestel). It is in the 867 area code (formerly 819 before October 1997) with its only exchange code of 980.


title: Grise Fiord

text: The community has been served by the Qiniq network since 2005. Qiniq is a fixed wireless service to homes and businesses, connecting to the outside world via a satellite backbone. The Qiniq network is designed and operated by SSI Micro. In 2017, the network was upgraded to 4G LTE technology, and 2G-GSM for mobile voice. In 2019, Bell Mobility became available to Grise Fiord.


title: Grise Fiord

text: A Simon Fraser University study of Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) activity in the Baffin Region states that Grise Fiord had the lowest rate of criminal offences of all communities examined in 1992, and cites a 1994 Statistics Canada survey that gives the highest perception of personal safety.


title: Grise Fiord

text: Grise Fiord has a tundra climate (ET) with very short but cool summers and long, cold winters lasting almost the entire year.


title: Love Island Australia (season 1)

text: The first season of Love Island Australia began airing on 27 May 2018 9Go! and 9Now presented by Sophie Monk and narrated by Eoghan McDermott. The final aired on 5 July 2018, with Grant Crapp and Tayla Damir winning and sharing the $50,000 prize money. Eden Dally and Erin Barnett finished as runners up.


title: Love Island Australia (season 1)

text: "Love Island" involves a group of contestants, referred to as Islanders, living in isolation from the outside world in a villa in Mallorca, Spain, constantly under video surveillance. To survive in the villa the Islanders must be coupled up with another Islander, whether it be for love, friendship or money, as the overall winning couple receives a combined $50,000. On the first day, the Islanders couple up for the first time based on first impressions, but over the duration of the series they are forced to "re-couple" where they can choose to remain in their current couple or swap partners.


title: Love Island Australia (season 1)

text: Any Islander who remains single after the coupling is eliminated and dumped from the island. Islanders can also be eliminated via public vote, as during the series the public vote through the "Love Island" app available on smartphones for their favourite couple or prospective couple. Pairs who receive the fewest votes risk being eliminated. Often a twist has occurred where it has been up to the Islanders to vote one of their own off the island. During the final week, the public vote towards which couple they want to win the series and therefore take home $50,000.


title: Love Island Australia (season 1)

text: The Islanders for the first series were released by Nine on 21 May 2018, just one week before the premiere episode.


title: Love Island Australia (season 1)

text: "Love Island Australia" averaged around 200,000 viewers for its linear broadcasts in overnight OzTAM ratings, increasing to an average of 511,000 when adding viewers from Nine's streaming service, 9Now. The series performed strongest in the youngest key demographic band (16 to 39 year olds), but ranked low amongst total viewers. The series generated in excess of 150 million views through its official YouTube channel, however 85% were viewers from outside Australia, and YouTube viewers cannot be monetised.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: Religion in the Netherlands was historically dominated by Christianity between the 10th and 20th centuries. In the late 19th century, roughly 60% of the population was Calvinist and 35% was Catholic. Since then, there has been a significant decline in both Catholic and Protestant Christianity, with Protestantism declining to such a degree that Catholicism became the foremost form of the Christian religion. The majority of the Dutch population is secular. A relatively sizable Muslim minority also exists.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: In 2015, Statistics Netherlands, the government institute that gathers statistical information about the Netherlands, found that 50.1% of the adult population declared no religious affiliation. Christians comprised 43.8% of the total population; by denomination, Catholicism was 23.7%, the members of the Protestant Church of the Netherlands were 15.5%, and members of other Christian denominations were 4.6%. Islam comprised 4.9% of the total population, Hinduism 0.6%, Buddhism 0.4%, and Judaism 0.1%. Many Dutch people believe religion should not have a significant role in politics and education. Religion is also primarily considered a personal matter which should not be discussed in public.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: The Constitution of the Netherlands guarantees freedom of education, which means that all schools that adhere to general quality criteria receive the same government funding. This includes schools based on religious principles by religious groups. Three out of nineteen political parties in the States General (CDA, CU and SGP) are based upon the Christian belief. Several Christian religious holidays are national holidays (Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and the Ascension of Jesus). Atheism, Agnosticism, and Christian atheism are on the rise and are widely accepted and considered to be non-controversial. Even among those who adhere to Christianity, there are high percentages of atheists, agnostics, and Ietsists, since affiliation with a Christian denomination is also used in a way of cultural identification in various parts of the Netherlands.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: In 2015, 82% of the Netherlands' population said they never or almost never visited a church, and 59% stated that they had never been to a church of any kind. Of all the people questioned, 24% saw themselves as atheist, an increase of 11% compared to the previous study done in 2006. Ietsism, or spirituality, is rising according to research done in 2015. In 2019, Statistics Netherlands reported that non-religious people were in the majority for the first time. Only 49% of people older than 15 years identified as religious, compared to 54% in 2012. The largest denomination was still Catholicism at 24%, while 5% identified with Islam.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: The oldest data on the profession of religion by the inhabitants of the regions that are now the "Netherlands" are passed down by the Romans. Contrary to what ancient sources seem to suggest, the Rhine, which clearly formed the boundary of the Roman Empire, did not appear to form the boundary between residential areas of Celts and Germans. There were Germans south of it (Germani Cisrhenani) and many place names and archaeological finds indicate the presence of Celts north of the Rhine.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: Between these Celtic and Germanic peoples, and later the Roman conquerors (romanization), a cultural exchange took place. The tribes adapted one another's myths and polytheistic deities, resulting in a synthesis of Germanic, Celtic, and Roman mythology. Gods such as Nehalennia, Hiudana and Sandraudiga are of indigenous (Celtic) origin, while gods such as Wodan, Donar and Frigg/Freija (see Freya) came from Germanic origin. Others, such as Jupiter, Minerva and Venus, were introduced by the Romans. Tacitus also described the creation myth of Mannus, a primitive man from which all Germanic tribes would have emerged. The Celts and Germans in the Low Countries had tree shrines, following the example of the Old Norse Yggdrasil, the Saxon Irminsul, and Donar's oak. Temples were probably only built during and after the romanization, and have been preserved in places such as Empel and Elst.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: From the 4th to the 6th century AD The Great Migration took place, in which the small Celtic-Germanic-Roman tribes in the Low Countries were gradually supplanted by three major Germanic tribes: the Franks, the Frisians and Saxons. Around 500 of the Franks, initially residing between the Rhine and the Somme, converted to Christianity following the conversion of their king Chlodovech. A large part of the area south of the Maas (Meuse) belonged from the early Middle Ages to 1559 to Archdeacon Kempenland, which was part of the Diocese of Tongeren-Maastricht-Luik (Liege). From the center of the diocese, successively the cities of Tongeren, Maastricht and Luik, this part of the Netherlands was probably Christianized.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: According to tradition, the first Bishop of Maastricht, Servatius was buried in this city in 384, though only from Bishop Domitianus (ca. 535) is it established that he resided in Maastricht. However, it would take at least until 1000 AD before all pagan people were actually Christianized and the Frisian and Saxon religions became extinct, and elements of the extinguished pagan religions were incorporated into the Christian religion even after conversion. In the following centuries, Catholicism was the only mainstream religion in the Netherlands. In the 14th and 15th century, the first calls were heard for religious reform.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: The rebellious Netherlands that had united in the Union of Utrecht (1579) declared their independence from Spain in 1581, during the Eighty Years' War; Spain finally accepted this in 1648. The Dutch revolt was partially religiously motivated, as during the Reformation many of the Dutch had adopted Lutheran, Anabaptist, Calvinist or Mennonite forms of Protestantism. These religious movements were suppressed by the Spanish, who supported the Counter Reformation. After independence, the Netherlands adopted Calvinism as an informal state religion, but practiced a degree of religious tolerance towards non-Calvinists. It cultivated a reputation as a safe refuge for Jewish and Protestant refugees from Flanders, France (Huguenots), Germany and England.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: There have always been considerable differences between orthodox and liberal interpretations of Calvinism, such as those between Arminianism and Gomarism in the 17th century and those between the Dutch Reformed Church ("Nederlands Hervormde Kerk") and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands ("Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland") in the late 19th century, which even led to a denominational difference between "hervormd" and "gereformeerd", though linguistically both mean "reformed". Catholics, who dominated the southern provinces, were not allowed to practice their religion openly. They were emancipated during the late 19th and early 20th century through pillarization, by forming their own social communities. In 1947, 44.3% belonged to Protestant denominations, 38.7% belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, and 17.1% were unaffiliated. In 1940–45, 75-80% of Dutch Jews were murdered in The Holocaust by the Nazis.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: Since 1880 the major religions began to decline as secularism, socialism and liberalism grew; in the 1960s and 1970s Protestantism and Catholicism began to decline at a rapid rate. The major exception is Islam, which grew considerably as the result of immigration. Since the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a rising awareness of Muslim extremism. In 2013, a Catholic became queen consort.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: Secularization in the Netherlands started around 1880, and major religions began to decline after the Second World War. Religion lost its influence on Dutch politics between the 1960s and 1980s, resulting in liberal Dutch policy. The increasing trend towards secularism is countered by a religious revival in the Protestant Bible Belt, and the growth of Muslim and Hindu communities resulting from immigration and high birth rates. As a result of the declining religious adherence, the two major strands of Calvinism, the Dutch Reformed Church and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, together with a small Lutheran group began to cooperate, first as the "Samen op weg Kerken" ("Together on the road churches") and since 2004 as the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, a united Protestant church.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: During the same period, Islam increased from essentially nonexistent to 5% of the population. The main sources of Muslim immigrants include Suriname and Indonesia from decolonization, Turkey and Morocco as migrant workers, and Iraq, Iran, Bosnia and Afghanistan as refugees. In the early 21st century, religious tensions between native Dutch people and migrant Muslims was increasing. After the rise of politician Pim Fortuyn, who sought to defend the Dutch liberal culture against what he saw as a "backwards religion", stricter immigration laws were enacted. Religious tensions increased after the murders of Pim Fortuyn in 2002 by environmental activist Volkert van der Graaf, and Theo van Gogh in 2004, killed by a conservative Muslim.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: In December 2014, for the first time there were more atheists (25%) than theists (17%) in the Netherlands, with majorities of the population being agnostic (31%) or spiritual but not religious (27%). Secular humanism has a notable presence in the Netherlands, with research in 2003 indicating about 9.4% of the population expressing affinity with the movement.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: Slightly more than half (52.8%) of the respondents to a research study about humanism in 2003 were affiliated with no religious or philosophical movement at all. In contrast, 8% reported following more than one movement. This form of pluralism occurs in all religious and philosophical Dutch movements but is strongest among supporters of non-Western religions. 75% of Dutch Buddhists also affiliate with other religious or philosophical movements. Among followers of Hinduism in the Netherlands, this ratio is even higher, at 91%. On the other hand, followers of Western religions and humanism, as well as movements in the 'other' category were least likely to affiliate with more than one religious or philosophical movement.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: Within Western movements, the people affiliating with humanism were most likely to also adhere to one or more other movements (47%). Most of these humanists adhere to Catholicism (27%), Protestantism (14%) or Buddhism (12%). Also 9% of Catholics, 6% of Protestants, and 50% of the Buddhists counting themselves as humanists, as well as 25% of Muslims, 55% of the Hindu, 19% of the Jews, and 15% of the supporters of a movement other than these listed.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: Cults, sects and new religious movements have the same legal rights as larger and more mainstream religious movements.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: The Dutch government chose not to make special laws regarding cults, sects or new religious movements (generally all informally called "sekten" in Dutch). This decision was based on reports made after the 1978 Jonestown mass murder and suicide. Nor is there any officially assigned institute that provides information to the public about these movements and organizations.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: Since November 2012, there has been an official complaint website about cults, sects, new religious movements, spiritual courses, philosophy courses, and therapy groups. The website was initiated by the Ministry of Security and Justice.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: The website can also refer people to psychological counsellors. The immediate reason for this website was an undercover documentary by the commercial TV station SBS6 about the Miracle of Love movement.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: While 67.8% of the Dutch population are not members of any religious community, the remainder report affiliation with a multitude of religions. 24.5% of the Dutch population is affiliated with a Christian church. The largest group, 11.7% in 2015, is Roman Catholic. The rest are distributed over a multitude of Protestant churches, which made up 12.8% of the population in 2012. The largest these is the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (8.6%), which in fact is an alliance of three churches, two Calvinist and one Lutheran. Smaller churches make up about 0.1% of the Dutch population. These churches have either been the result of conflicts within the Calvinist Church or have been imported, mainly from the United States. Other Christians (Eastern Orthodox and Restorationists) make up only a small percentage. The remaining 7.7% of the population are members of another religion, such as Islam (5.8%), Hinduism, Judaism, Baháʼí, Buddhism, or indigenous religions.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: Different sources give very different percentages. in 2006, fewer than 7% attend church or mosque regularly (at least once a month). Similar studies were done in 1966, 1979, and 1996, showing a steady decline of religious affiliation. That this trend is likely to continue is illustrated by the fact that in the age group under 35, 69% are non-affiliated. However, those who "are" religious tend to be more profoundly religious than in the past. Religious belief is also regarded as a very personal affair, as is illustrated by the fact that 60% of self-described believers are not affiliated with any organized religion. There is stronger stress on the positive sides of belief, with Hell and the concept of damnation being pushed into the background. 53% of the Dutch population believe in a form of life after death, of which a third believe in some kind of heaven (with or without a god), but with only 4% believing in Hell. Of the entire population, 10% believe in a reunion of family and loved ones, and 10% in the survival of the spirit, soul or consciousness. Of the people who answer positively to whether they believe there is life after death, 15% think of the afterlife as "living on in the memory of others". Furthermore, 6% believe in reincarnation generally, and 5% in reincarnation in human form exclusively. One-quarter of non-believers sometimes pray, but more in a sense of meditative self-reflection. Atheism, agnosticism, and Christian atheism are also on the rise, and are becoming broadly accepted. The expected rise of spirituality (ietsism) has come to a halt according to research in 2015. In 2006 40% of respondents considered themselves spiritual, while by 2015 this had dropped to 31%. The number who believed in the existence of a higher power (theists and certain ietsists) fell from 36% to 28% over the same period.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: Research done in 2015 by Ton Bernts and Joantine Berghuijs concluded that 67.8% of the Dutch population consider themselves to be irreligious.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: In 2006, 51% of the Dutch population were still affiliated church members. In 2015 only 25% of the population adheres to one of the Christian churches, 4% is Muslim and 2% adheres to Hinduism Budism, based on in-depth interviews. In 2015, the vast majority of the inhabitants of the Netherlands (82%) claim they or almost never visit a church, and 59% stated they have never been to a church of any kind. Of all the people questioned, 25% see themselves as atheists, an increase of 11% compared to the previous study done in 2006.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: Almost all Christian groups show a decrease in the number of members or less stable membership. However, in particular, the loss of members of the two major churches is noticeable, namely the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands, with a membership loss of approximately 589,500 members between 2003 (4,532,000 people, or 27.9% of the population) and 2013 (3,943,000 people, or 23.3%), and the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, with a membership loss of 737,174 members between 2003 (1,823,085 people, or 11.2% of the population, for the Dutch Reformed Church; 623,100 people or 3.8% for the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands; and 11,989 people or 0.07% for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands; total for these churches of 2,458,174 people, or 15.15% of the population) and 2012 (Protestant Church in the Netherlands, 1,721,000 people or 10.2% of the population). Smaller churches (Mennonite Church in the Netherlands, Remonstrants, and the Old Catholic Church) had a total number of 22,489 members (0.13% of the population) in 2003, which dropped to 17,852 members (0.10% of the population) in 2012. In total, the number of members of Christian groups in the Netherlands decreased from 7,013,163 (43.22% of the population) in 2003 to 5,730,852 (34.15% of the population) in 2013. This accounts for a total member loss of 1,282,311 (9.7% overall population) of all churches in the Netherlands within these 10 years. These numbers are based on information by KASKI (Katholiek Sociaal-Kerkelijk Insituut / Catholic Social-Ecclesiastical Institute), which in turn bases its numbers on information provided by the churches themselves. Independent research in 2015 by the VU University Amsterdam and Radboud University shows significantly lower numbers concerning the percentage of the Dutch population that adheres to almost all the churches named here.


title: Religion in the Netherlands

text: Currently, Catholicism is the single largest denomination of the Netherlands, forming some 23.7% of the Dutch people in 2015, down from 40% in the 1960s. According to the church itself, 22.4% of the Dutch population were formal members in 2016.