Pest (county)

Pest County Pest megye  (Hungarian) Komitat Pest  (German)
Counties of Hungary
Descending, from top: the Börzsöny Mountain in Nagybörzsöny village, landscapes of Vác, and landscapes of Kemence
Flag Coat of arms
Country	Hungary
Region	Central Hungary
County seat	Budapest
Government
• President of the General Assembly	István Szabó (Fidesz-KDNP)
Area
• Total	6,393.14 km2 (2,468.41 sq mi)
Area rank	3rd in Hungary
Population (2011 census)
• Total	1,217,476
• Rank	1st in Hungary
• Density	190/km2 (490/sq mi)
Postal code	20xx – 23xx, 2440, 2461, 260x – 263x, 2680 – 2683, 27xx
Area code(s)	(+36) 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 53
ISO 3166 code	HU-PE
Website	www.pestmegye.hu

Pest County (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈpɛʃt]) is a county (megye) in central Hungary. It covers an area of 6,393.14 square kilometres (2,468.41 sq mi), 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 Nógrád, Heves, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, Bács-Kiskun, Fejér, and Komárom-Esztergom. 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.

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 Bács-Kiskun). 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.