Demographics
According to geographer Elek Fényes, in 1851 Felső-Őr was a Hungarian village with a population of 2323 people. Calvinists were the largest religious group (60%), followed by Roman Catholics (26%), Lutherans (13%) and only 10 Jews.
The population statistics of Oberwart/Felsőőr recorded by official Hungarian and Austrian censuses were:
| Year | Total | Hungarians | Germans | Roma | Croatians |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880 | 3,397 | 2,395 | 852 | 13 | 8 |
| 1890 | 3,410 | 2,720 | 613 | 49 | 14 |
| 1900 | 3,471 | 2,680 | 782 | n/a | 8 |
| 1910 | 3,912 | 3,039 | 842 | n/a | 17 |
| 1920 | 4,162 | 3,138 | 838 | 157 | 5 |
| 1923 | 3,846 | 2,664 | 1,162 | n/a | 5 |
| 1934 | 4,603 | 2,234 | 2,058 | 282 | 13 |
| 1951 | 4,496 | 1,603 | 2,854 | n/a | 2 |
| 1961 | 4,740 | 1,475 | 3,170 | n/a | 7 |
| 1971 | 5,455 | 204 | 5,236 | n/a | n/a |
| 1981 | 5,715 | 1,343 | 4,294 | n/a | 44 |
| 1991 | 6,319 | 1,598 | 4,430 | n/a | 104 |
| 2001 | 6,696 | 1,169 | 4,889 | n/a | 233 |
The population of the town was increasing during the last 150 years with only two smaller bumps caused by World War I and World War II. Hungarians gave the majority until 1951 when Germans were recorded first as the largest group. The number of Hungarians reached its peak in 1920 with 3,138 people (75% of the total population). In the second half of the 20th century they decreased both in numbers and percentage, reaching the lowest point in 1971 with only 204 people. The community was growing again in the last decades of the century. The small Roma minority disappeared after the hardships of Nazi rule. The number of Croatians only began growing in the last two decades of the 20th century.
Read more about this topic: Oberwart