Somogy County Somogy vármegye
Counties of Hungary
Descending, from top: Sunset in Lake Balaton, Somogyvár Abbey, and Downtown of Kaposvár
Flag Coat of arms
Somogy County within Hungary
Coordinates: 46°25′N 17°35′E / 46.417°N 17.583°E / 46.417; 17.583
Country	Hungary
Region	Southern Transdanubia
County seat	Kaposvár
Districts	8 districts Barcs District Csurgó District Fonyód District Kaposvár District Marcali District Nagyatád District Siófok District Tab District
Government
• Body	Somogy County Council
• President of the General Assembly	Norbert Bíró (Fidesz-KDNP)
Area
• Total	6,065.07 km2 (2,341.74 sq mi)
• Rank	5th in Hungary
Population  (2018)
• Total	303,802[1]
• Rank	13th in Hungary
GDP [2]
• Total	HUF 683 billion €2.195 billion (2016)
Postal code	7253 – 729x, 74xx – 75xx, 7918, 7977 – 7979, 86xx – 873x, 884x – 885x
Area code(s)	(+36) 82, 84, 85
ISO 3166 code	HU-SO
Website	www.som-onkorm.hu

Somogy (Hungarian: Somogy vármegye, pronounced [ˈʃomoɟ]; Croatian: Šomođska županija; Slovene: Šomodska županija, German: Komitat Schomodei) is an administrative county (comitatus or vármegye) in present Hungary, and also in the former Kingdom of Hungary.

Somogy County lies in south-western Hungary, on the border with Croatia's Koprivnica-Križevci and Virovitica-Podravina counties. It stretches between the river Dráva and the southern shore of Lake Balaton. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties of Zala, Veszprém, Fejér, Tolna, and Baranya. Somogy is the most sparsely populated county in Hungary. The county capital is Kaposvár. Its area is 6,036 km².

History

Somogy was also the name of a historic administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory, which was slightly larger than that of present Somogy County, is now in south-western Hungary. The capital of that county was also Kaposvár.

Demographics

In 2015, it had a population of 312,084 and the population density was 52/km².

Year	County population[3]	Change
1949	361,213	n/a
1960	368,183 (record)	1.93%
1970	357,009	-3.03%
1980	360,270	0.91%
1990	344,708	-4.32%
2001	335,237	-2.75%
2011	316,137	-5.70%
2015	312,084	-1.29%
2018	303,802	-2.72%

Ethnicity

Besides the Hungarian majority, the main minorities are the Roma (approx. 16,000), Germans (3,000) and Croats (1,500).

Total population (2011 census): 316,137
Ethnic groups (2011 census):^[4] Identified themselves: 287,692 persons:

• Hungarians: 265,464 (92,27%)
• Romani: 16,167 (5,62%)
• Germans: 3,039 (1,06%)
• Others and indefinable: 3,022 (1,05%)

Approx. 46,000 persons in Somogy County did not declare their ethnic group at the 2011 census.

Religion

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

• Catholic – 168,307 (Roman Catholic – 167,719; Greek Catholic – 546);
• Reformed – 21,176;
• Evangelical – 5,807;
• other religions – 3,829;
• Non-religious – 35,503;
• Atheism – 3,056;
• Undeclared – 78,459.

Regional structure

Politics

The Somogy County Council, elected at the 2019 local government elections, is made up of 15 counselors, with the following party composition:^[6]

Presidents of the General Assembly

Municipalities

Somogy County has 1 urban county, 15 towns, 2 large villages and 227 villages.

City with county rights

(ordered by population, as of 2011 census)

• Kaposvár (66,245) – county seat

Towns

Villages

municipalities are large villages.