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Slovenia is a Country of Southeast Europe. Located in
the Northwest of the Balkans, it has an area of 20 253
km2. It is bordered by Italy to the west,
Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast and
Croatia to the east and south; to the southwest, it has
a narrow coastline (25 km) on the Adriatic Sea (Gulf of
Venice), between Trieste, Italy, and the Istrian
Peninsula, Croatia. The most important cities are
Ljubljana, the capital, with 258 700 inhabitants (2004),
Maribor (92 6 000 inhab.), Celje (37 100 inhab.), Kranj
(35 100 inhab.) and Novo Mesto (22 400 inhab. ). The
territory is predominantly mountainous. The climate is
Mediterranean type along the coast, but it has
continental climate characteristics in the plateau
interior and in the western valleys with cold winters
and hot, rainy summers.
Economy
Slovenia is historically one of the most prosperous
regions in the Balkans, with an industry-based
economy. Industrial products are steel, aluminum,
building materials, detergents, fabrics, leather
products and bicycles. There are large reserves of coal
and some deposits of oil and natural gas. Agriculture is
not very developed, but corn, potatoes, wheat, beets and
fruits are still cultivated. Slovenia's main trading
partners are Germany, Italy, Croatia and France.
Environmental indicator: the value of carbon dioxide
emissions, per capita (metric tons, 1999), is 7.3.
Population
The population is 2 010 347 inhabitants (2006), which
corresponds to a population density of 99.2 inhab./km2. The
birth and death rates are respectively 8.98% of the and
10.31%, which corresponds to a natural negative growth
rate (-0.05%). Average life expectancy is 76.33
years. The value of the Human Development Index (HDI) is
0.821 and the value of the Gender-adjusted Development
Index (IDG) is 0.879 (2001). The main ethnic groups are
Slovenian, with 91%, Croatian, with 3%, Serbian, with 2%
and others, with 4%. The religion with the greatest
expression is Catholic. The official language is
Slovenian.
History
In the 9th century, Slovenia joined the German Empire
and Slovenians were reduced to serfdom. From the
thirteenth century, the suzerainty of the Austrian
Habsburgs in the territory was gradually being
established. Between the 15th and 16th centuries, there
were some rebellions among the Slovenian peasants. But
in the 18th century, Empress Maria Teresa and her son
José II managed to stop the uprisings by enacting some
reforms.
After a short period of Napoleonic rule, between 1809
and 1814, the Habsburg administration was reestablished
in the region. In 1870, the population's hopes for the
political union of the southern Slavic countries
(Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia) arose. Twenty years
later, the first political parties began to emerge. In
1918, at the end of the First World War, Slovenia's
political leaders cooperated in the formation of the
Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian Empire, which in 1929
was renamed Yugoslavia. At the beginning of World War
II, Slovenia was occupied and divided by the Axis
Powers, Germany, Italy and Japan. But resistance began
to emerge, mainly the communist Liberation Front. With
the victory of the Allies in 1945, Slovenia became a
constituent republic of Yugoslavia.
In the late 1980s, Slovenian communist leaders began
building a multiparty system, thus placing themselves at
an advantage over the rule of the Communist Party of
Yugoslav Serbia. In April 1990, the first multi-party
elections within the Yugoslav Federation, since World
War II, were won in Slovenia, which were won by a
center-right coalition. Shortly thereafter, the new
government decided on the right to
independence. Slovenia separated from the federation in
June 1991, and a year later, independence was recognized
by the European Union. From that moment on, the
country's economy and society began to follow Western
European standards.
Slovenia formally joined the European Union on 1 May
2004, in a ceremony held in Dublin, and on 1 January
2007 it became the 13th country to join the single
currency.
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