Vas County

Vas County lies in western Hungary. It shares borders with Austria (Burgenland), Slovenia (Mura Statistical Region), and the Hungarian counties of Győr-Moson-Sopron, Veszprém, and Zala. The capital of Vas County is Szombathely. Its area is 3,336 km².

Vas is also the name of a historic administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in western Hungary, eastern Austria, and eastern Slovenia. The capital of the county was Szombathely.

Vas County arose as one of the first comitatus of the Kingdom of Hungary.

In 1920, by the Treaty of Trianon the western part of the county became part of the new Austrian land Burgenland, and a smaller part in the southwest, known as Vendvidék, became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed to Yugoslavia). In the Vendvidék in 1919 was founded an unrecognized state the Prekmurje Republic, similar to Burgenland the Lajtabánság. The remainder stayed in Hungary, as the present Hungarian county Vas. After World War II due to Communist reforms, a small part of the former Sopron county went to Vas County, some villages north of Zalaegerszeg went to Zala county, and a small region west of Pápa went to Veszprém county.

Since 1991, when Slovenia became independent from Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav part of the former Vas County (around Murska Sobota) is part of Slovenia.

Vas County is home to a small Slovene minority, which lives in the area between the town of Szentgotthárd and the Slovenian border (see Hungarian Slovenes).

In 2015, the county had a population of 253,997 and the population density was 76/km².

Year	County population[3]	Change
1949	283,070	n/a
1960	282,728	-0.12%
1970	277,619	-1.81%
1980	285,498	2.84%
1990	275,944	-3.35%
2001	268,123	-2.83%
2011	256,629	-4.29%
2015	253,997	-1.03%
2018	253,305	-0.27%

Besides the Hungarian majority, the main minorities are the Croats (approx. 3,000), Roma (2,500), Germans (2,000) and Slovenes (1,500).

Total population (2011 census): 256,629
Ethnic groups (2011 census):^[4] Identified themselves: 225 052 persons:

• Hungarians: 214 512 (95.32%)
• Croats: 3 102 (1.38%)
• Gypsies: 2 559 (1.14%)
• Others and indefinable: 4 879 (2.17%)

Approx. 39,000 persons in Vas County did not declare their ethnic group at the 2011 census.

Religious adherence in the county according to 2011 census:^[5]

• Catholic – 150,912 (Roman Catholic – 150,575; Greek Catholic – 276);
• Evangelical – 15,135;
• Reformed – 7,113;
• other religions – 2,087;
• Non-religious – 13,621;
• Atheism – 1,895;
• Undeclared – 65,866.

 

The Vas County Council, elected at the 2014 local government elections, is made up of 15 counselors, with the following party composition:^[6]

Vas County has 1 urban county, 12 towns and 203 villages.

City with county rights

(ordered by population, as of 2011 census)

• Szombathely (78,884) – county seat

Towns

Villages

•  
  Szombathely, the capital of the county
•  
  Jurisics Square in Kőszeg
•  
  Saint George's Abbey and the Saint James Chapel in Ják
•  
  Nádasdy Castle, Sárvár
•  
  Batthyány Mansion in Körmend
•  
  Batthyány Mansion in Csákánydoroszló
•  
  Cistercian Abbey of Szentgotthárd
•  
  Traditional Hungarian house in Szalafő

• Official site in Hungarian and English
• Vas Népe (vaol.hu) - The county portal
• Hungary at GeoHive

47°10′N 16°45′E / 47.167°N 16.750°E / 47.167; 16.750