Life in Slovakia

Photo: Shutterstock / patrice6000

Slovakia in Brief

Official name Slovak Republic
Date of establishment 1 January 1993 (after splitting of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic)
Official language Slovak
Capital Bratislava
Political system parliamentary democracy
President of the Slovak Republic Zuzana Čaputová (appointed in June 2019)
Prime Minister Eduard Heger (appointed in April 2021)
Administrative organisation 8 higher territorial units, 8 regions, 79 districts, 2,890 municipalities out of which are 141 cities and towns; Regional capitals: Bratislava, Trnava, Nitra, Trenčín, Žilina, Banská Bystrica, Prešov, Košice
Neighbouring countries Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine
Membership in international organizations EU (since 1 May 2004), NATO (since 29 March 2004), UN, OECD, OSCE, CERN, WHO, INTERPOL, etc.
Currency euro (since 1 January 2009); 1 euro (1€) = 100 cents (100c), banknotes issued in 500€, 200€, 100€, 50€, 20€, 10€ and 5€ denominations; coins in 2€ and 1€ and 50c, 20c, 10c, 5c, 2c and 1c denominations
Area 49,035 km²
Population (as of 30 June 2020) 5,460,136 million (51.2% are women)
Density of population 111/km2
The largest towns – by population (as of 31 December 2019) Bratislava (437,726 inhabitants), Košice (238,593), Prešov (88,464), Žilina (80,727), Banská Bystrica (78,084), Nitra (76,533), Trnava (65,033), Trenčín (55,383), Martin (54,168), Poprad (51,235), Prievidza (45,634), Zvolen (42,167)
Ethnic mix of population (as of 31 December 2019) Slovak (81.6%), Hungarian (8.2%), Romany (2.1%), Czech (0.7%), Ruthenian (0.5%), Ukrainian (0.2%), German (0.14%), Polish (0.13%), Moravian (0.05%), other (0.4%) and unknown (6%)
Religions (as of 31 December 2011) Roman Catholic Church (62%), Evangelical Church of Augsburg Confession (5.9%), Greek Catholic Church (3.8%), Reformed Christian Church (1.8%), Orthodox Church (0.9%), Religious Society of Jehovah’s Witnesses (0.3%), United Methodist Church (0.2%), other (0.5%), without religion (13.4%) and unknown (10.6%)
Main agricultural crops corn, forest products, fruit, grains, hops, oat, potatoes, rye, sugar beets, wheat
Breeding cattle, goats, pigs, poultry, sheep
Main fields of industry chemical, electro-chemical, automotive, light industry, food processing, back-office support, engineering, building materials, paper and cellulose, wood, mining, metallurgical
Natural resources bentonite, brown coal, crude oil, dimension and crushed stone, gold, gypsum and anhydrite, kaolin, limestone, magnesite, natural gas, perlite, talc, zeolite