Country name: Slovak Republic
Location: Central Europe, south of Poland
Area: 48,845 sq km
Population: 5,439,448 (July 2006 est.)
Capital: Bratislava
Language: Slovak (official) 83.9%, Hungarian 10.7%, Roma 1.8%, Ukrainian 1%, other or unspecified 2.6% (2001 census)
Natural resources: brown coal and lignite; small amounts of iron ore, copper and manganese ore; salt; arable land
Government type: parliamentary democracy
Legal system: civil law system based on Austro-Hungarian codes; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations; legal code modified to comply with the obligations of Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and to expunge Marxist-Leninist legal theory
Currency: Slovak koruna (SKK)
Republic of Slovakia is located in Central Europe with a total area of 48,845 square kilometers and a population of approximately 5,400,000 people. The capital city of the country is called Bratislava. It shares borders with 5 countries: Hungary to the South, Czech Republic to the Northwest, Poland to the North, Ukraine to the East and Austria to the West. The relief of the country is dominated by the Western Carpathians. They are divided into three regions and each region is separated from the other by a valley. The south part of the country is the one where lowlands occur. The climate of the country is influenced by its mountainous lands. It has a more distinguished continental climate than that of the Czech Republic. Maximum rainfall occurs during the summer days while the lowest levels of precipitation occur during the winter. Summers are not hot but cool while winters are cold and humid. Snowfall mostly occurs in the mountainous regions of the country.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed after the end of the WW I which allowed Czechs and Slovaks to join in order to form a united Czechoslovakia. Subsequently, Czechoslovakia became one of the Soviet Union satellite countries and remained a communist country until the dissolution of the USSR. On January 1st 1993, Czechs and Slovaks decided to separate into two different countries. In 2004, Slovakia joined NATO and the EU.
Around 85% of the country’s population is ethnic Slovaks. The largest minority is comprised of Hungarians which counts to about 10%. There are other minority groups such as Czechs, Poles, and Roma. The official language is Slovak; however, Hungarian is also widely spoken due to the large minority that Hungarians form. Slovak and Czech are closely related languages; both are West Slavic languages and they are mutually understandable due to history ties. After the collapse of the USSR, Slovaks were allowed to choose their own religion. Largest part of the population is Roman Catholic, but some minorities claim adherence to Protestantism.
Slovakia is a parliamentary democracy. Its currency is Slovak Koruna (SKK). 1 US dollar can be exchanged for 20.62 SKK, while 1 Euro can be exchanged for 32.18 SKK.
After the separation of Czechoslovakia, Slovakia was in the worse position of the two countries due to history and geography of the country. Also, Slovakian region was the more rural and the less economically developed which was a sign for a harder way to a market-based economy. Indeed, the transition to democracy has been slower in Slovakia than in the Czech Republic. Slovakia has almost finished the privatization of major enterprises and the bank sector is entirely under foreign supervision. Despite its initial disadvantage, Slovakia achieved greater economic growth than the Czech Republic and its inflation rates had been lower than those of the Czechs. However, unemployment remains one of the main problems. It reached more than 17% in 2003 but was reduced to 8 % in 2007 but it still remains a current issue.
Country’s public debt accounted for more than 30% of the GDP during 2007 and the country has been running budget deficits. However, Slovakia is expected to be the second country of the ten states that joined in 2004 to adopt the Euro currency in 2009. Slovakia has also attracted major foreign investments thanks to its hard-working population, cheap labour force, low personal income and corporate taxes, no double taxation (no tax levied on dividends). Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has increased with around 600% since the year 2000. Slovakia’s main trade partners are EU or OECD member states.
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