Europe

Slovakia
Last reviewed:14 January 2010

Country information

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Map of Slovakia

Area: 49,000 sq km (11,400 sq mi)
Population: 5,391,000 (2002)
Capital City: Bratislava
People: Slovak 85.8%, Hungarian 9.7%, Roma 8%, Czech-Moravian-Silesian 0.8%, Ruthenian and Ukrainian 0.2%, German 0.1%, Polish 0.1%, Others 0.2%.
(According to the 2001 census, 1.7 percent of Slovaks identified themselves as Roma. However, the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic estimates number of Roma as 400,000)
Language(s): Slovak (official), Hungarian
Religion(s): Roman Catholics 60.3%, Atheists 9.7%, Protestants 8.6%, Orthodox 0.7%, Other 17.5%.
Currency: Euro
Major political parties: Party Direction – Third Way (SMER), People’s Party for a Democratic Slovakia (LS -HZDS), Slovak Nationalist Party (SNS), Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (SDKU), Party of the Hungarian Coalition (SMK), Christian Democratic Movement (KDH).
Government: Government coalition: SMER, LS-HZDS, SNS.
Head of State: President Ivan Gasparovic
Prime Minister/Premier: Robert Fico
Foreign Minister: Miroslav Lajčák
Membership of international groupings/ organisations: Council of Europe (COE), European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Union (EU), Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IFC, International Labour Organisation (ILO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Maritime Organisation (IMO), Interpol, IOC, NATO, Non Aligned Movement (NAM), (guest), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Organisation for Co-operation and Security in Europe (OSCE), Partnership for Peace (PfP), United Nations (UN), Western European Union (WEU), (associate partner), World Health Organisation (WHO), WIPO, WMO, WtoO, WtrO. Slovakia was elected a non-Permanent Member of the UN Security Council for 2006 and 2007. They also hold the Presidency of the Visegrad 4 group (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia) for a year from July 2006.