Profile
Background and figures as recorded in the CIA World Factbook.
Slovakia traces its roots to the 9th century state of Great Moravia. The Slovaks then became part of the Hungarian Kingdom, where they remained for the next 1,000 years. After the formation of the dual Austro-Hungarian monarchy in 1867, language and education policies favoring the use of Hungarian (known as "Magyarization") led to a public backlash that boosted Slovak nationalism and strengthened Slovak cultural ties with the closely related Czechs, who fell administratively under the Austrian half of the empire.
- Capital
- Bratislava
- Government
- parliamentary republic
- Population
- 5,563,649
- Area
- 49,035 sq km
- Location
- Central Europe, south of Poland
- Climate
- temperate; cool summers; cold, cloudy, humid winters
- Natural resources
- lignite; small amounts of iron ore; copper and manganese ore; salt; arable land
- Languages
- Slovak (official) 81.8%; Hungarian 8.5%; Roma 1.8%; other 2.2%…
- Religions
- Roman Catholic 55.8%; Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession 5.3%; Greek Catholic 4%; Reformed Christian 1.6%…
- Independence
- 1 January 1993 (Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia)
- Administrative divisions
- 8 regions (kraje, singular - kraj); Banska Bystrica, Bratislava, Kosice, Nitra, Presov, Trencin, Trnava, Zilina
- Currency
- euros (EUR)
- Export partners
- Germany 20%; Czechia 10%; Hungary 7%; USA 6%…
- Import partners
- Germany 16%; Czechia 14%; Poland 8%; China 7%…
Source: CIA World Factbook — a work of the US government, in the public domain