Pest County

Pest (, ; ) is a county ("megye") in central Hungary. It covers an area of , and has a population of 1,213,090 (2009). It surrounds the national capital Budapest and the majority of the county's population (65.2%/790,995 in 2009) live in the suburbs of Budapest. It shares borders with Slovakia and the Hungarian counties , , , , , and . The River Danube flows through the county. The capital of Pest County is Budapest (administratively separate), but it is planned to completely separate the capital from the county at least until 2020, as it loses catch-up aids from the European Union because of the high development of Budapest.
History.
The present county Pest was formed after World War II, when the former county Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun was split in two parts (the other part is within present-day ). Pest County also existed in the early days of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary (11th century). Its territory comprised approximately the north-eastern part of present Pest County. It was combined with adjacent Pilis county before the 15th century. More information can be found at the entry of former Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun county.
Demographics.
In 2015, it had a population of 1,226,115 and the population density was 192/km².
Ethnicity.
Besides the Hungarian majority, the main minorities are the Germans (approx. 25,000), Roma (20,000), Slovaks (6,000), Romanians (4,000) and Serbs (1,500).
Total population (2011 census): 1,217,476
Ethnic groups (2011 census):
Identified themselves: 1,090,882 persons:
Approx. 178,000 persons in Pest County did not declare their ethnic group at the 2011 census.
Religion.
Religious adherence in the county according to 2011 census:
Economy.
The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the county was 13.8 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 10.3% of Hungary's economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 17,000 euros or 56% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 69% of the EU average.
Politics.
The Pest County Council, elected at the 2019 local government elections, is made up of 44 counselors, with the following party composition:
Municipalities.
Pest County has 1+(Budapest) urban county, 47 towns, 17 large villages and 122 villages.
 municipalities are "large" villages.
International relations.
Pest County has a partnership relationship with: