Piroska Szalai, a commissioner for the prime minister, told public television on Monday that each year since 1995, more immigrants have arrived in Hungary than the number of people who left the country.

Citing Eurostat figures, Szalai said that 1.3 million people have arrived, and some 700,000 people have left Hungary. She added that people staying in Hungary for over a year count as immigrants, while an emigrant is one who has not returned from abroad for more than a year. She also added that foreign students in Hungary are considered immigrants, but if they leave Hungary after graduation, they will be included in emigrant statistics. Likewise, Hungarians working on longer foreign projects will be labelled emigrants, and seen as immigrants when they return after a year or two.

Szalai said the government's family support measures greatly contributed to attracting young people with small children to return to Hungary, adding that "family assistance measures at such scale and in such diversity" were unique to Hungary.