Hungary (Magyar Köztársaság) is a Parliamentary republic, member state of the European Union since May 1, 2004. Hungary is bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. 

More than one half of Hungary's landscape consists of flat plains of the Carpathian Basin: the most important plain regions include the Little Hungarian Plain (Kisalfold) in the west, and the Great Hungarian Plain (Alfold) in the southeast. Transdanubia is a primarily hilly region with a terrain varied by low mountains, it contains Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Central Europe (592 sqkm).

The highest mountains of the country, the Kékes at 1,014 metres, are located in the Carpathians, these lie in the northern parts, in a wide band along the Slovakian border. The country's two most prominent rivers, the Danube, of which the Hungarian section is 417 km long, and the Tisza at 598 km, traverse Hungary from north to south.