Slovenia

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Slovenia ( i /sloʊˈviːniə/ sloh- VEE -nee-ə), Republic of Slovenia

officially the Republic of Slovenia Republika Slovenija
(Slovene: Republika Slovenija, [reˈpublika
sloˈveːnija] ( listen) ), is a country in Central
Europe touching the Alps and bordering the
Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy on
the west, the Adriatic Sea on the southwest,
Croatia on the south and east, Hungary on
the northeast, and Austria on the north. The
Flag Coat of arms
capital and largest city of Slovenia is
Ljubljana. For nearly 1,000 years, Slovenia Anthem: 7th stanza of Zdravljica
has been influenced by its neighbouring
countries, particularly Austria, Italy and
Croatia as its geographic position lies at the
crossroads of Germanic, Latin and Slavic
cultures. [citation needed]

Slovenia covers an area of 20,273 square

kilometres and has a population of 2.06
million. Around 40% of Slovenia's land
mass is elevated land—mostly in the form
of mountains and plateaus—which is
located in the interior regions of the country.
The highest point of Slovenia is the 2,864 Location of Slovenia ( dark green )
metre (9,396 ft) high Mount Triglav. The
– on the European continent ( green & dark gray )
majority of the population speaks Slovene, – in the European Union ( green ) — [ Legend ]
which is also the country's official language.
Other local official languages are Hungarian Capital
Ljubljana
and Italian. (and largest city)
46°03′N 14°30′E

Slovenia is a member of the European Official language(s) Slovene1

Union, the Eurozone, the Schengen area, Ethnic groups 83% Slovene, 2%
the Organization for Security and Co- Serb, 2% Croat, 1%
operation in Europe, the Council of Europe, Bosniak, 12% other
NATO, UNESCO, WTO, OECD and UN. or unspecified[1]
Per capita, it is the richest Slavic nation-
Demonym Slovenian, Slovene
state, at 85.5% of the EU27 average GDP
(PPP) per capita. [citation needed] Government Parliamentary
republic
- President Danilo Türk
- Prime Minister Borut Pahor
Contents Independence
- Independence from October 29, 1918
1 History Austro-Hungarian
1.1 Prehistory Empire, forming
1.2 The Middle Ages State of Slovenes,
Croats and Serbs
 1.3 Early Modern Period Croats and Serbs
1.4 Age of Enlightenment to - Proclamation of June 25, 1991
the national movement independence from
Yugoslavia
1.5 Clashing nationalisms in
late 19th century EU accession 1 May 2004
1.6 World War One and the
Area
Creation of Yugoslavia
1.7 The interwar period
- Total 20,273 km2 (153rd)
7,827 sq mi
1.8 World War Two
- Water (%) 0.6
1.9 The Communist period
1.10 Democracy and Population
independence - 2009 estimate 2,054,199 [2] (144th)
- 2002 census 1,964,036
2 Politics
- Density 99.6/km2 (104th)
3 Administrative divisions
251/sq mi
4 Geography
4.1 Natural regions GDP (PPP) 2010 estimate
4.2 Biodiversity - Total $56.755 billion[3]
5 Economy - Per capita $28,118[3]
5.1 Tourism GDP (nominal) 2010 estimate
5.2 Transport - Total $49.110 billion[3]
6 Demographics - Per capita $24,330[3]
6.1 Urbanization
Gini (2007) 28.4 (low)
6.2 Languages
6.3 Religion HDI (2010) 0.828 [4] (very
6.4 Education high) (29th)
6.5 Immigration
Currency Euro (€)3 (EUR)
7 Culture
7.1 Cuisine Time zone CET (UTC+1)
7.2 Sport - Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)

8 See also Drives on the right

9 References ISO 3166 code SI
10 External links
Internet TLD .si4
Calling code 386
History 1
Italian and Hungarian are recognised as official
languages in the residential municipalities of the
Main article: History of Slovenia Italian or Hungarian national community.
2 Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of
See also: Timeline of Slovenian history Slovenia: Population, Slovenia, 30 June 2008
(http://www.stat.si/eng/novica_prikazi.aspx?ID=1950)
Although Slovene history can be traced 3 Prior to 2007: Slovenian tolar
back to the 8th century,[5] Slovenia itself is 4
Also .eu, shared with other European Union
a relatively modern political entity, having member states.
been independent since 1991. The notion
of "Slovenia" first emerged in the 19th century with the idea of United Slovenia, an
autonomous kingdom within the Habsburg Monarchy that would unite all Slovene Lands
around the Duchy of Carniola, the central Slovene-populated imperial crownland. It
became a reality only after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in 1918, when Slovenia
became a de facto self-governing entity within the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs,
which it helped to create. Slovenian autonomy was later abolished with the constitution of
the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes of 1921, and although Slovenia proper
managed to regain territorial integrity in 1931 as the Drava Banovina of the Kingdom of
Yugoslavia, it did not enjoy actual autonomy, and the name itself was not officially in use.
Slovenia became an autonomous political entity after World War II, as a full-scale
republic, the Socialist Republic of Slovenia, within the Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia. Its current borders were finalized in 1954, with the abolition of the Free
Territory of Trieste and the official annexation of the Koper district of the so-called Zone B
of the Free Territory to Yugoslavia, which was confirmed by the Treaty of Osimo in 1975.

During its history, the current territory of Slovenia was part of many different state
formations, including the Roman Empire, the Frankish Kingdom, the Holy Roman
Empire, the Republic of Venice (only some western areas), the Habsburg Monarchy, and
the First French Empire. In 1918, the Slovenes exercised self-determination for the first
time by co-founding the State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs, with their western
territories remaining in the Kingdom of Italy. During World War Two, Slovenia was
occupied and annexed by Germany, Italy and Hungary, only to emerge afterwards
reunified with its western part (Slovenian Littoral) as a founding member of the Socialist
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, before declaring full sovereignty in 1991.

A mural by Slavko Pengov representing Slovenian history in the Slovenian Parliament

Prehistory
The earliest signs of human settlement in present-day
Slovenia were found in the Jama Cave in the Loza
Woods near Orehek in Inner Carniola, where two
stone tools approximately 250,000 years old were
recovered. During the last glacial period, present-day
Slovenia was inhabited by Neanderthals; the most
famous Neanderthal archeological site in Slovenia is
a cave close to the village of Šebrelje near Cerkno,
where the Divje Babe flute, the oldest known musical
instrument in the world was found in 1995. In the
Ancient menhir, probably of transition period between the Bronze age to the Iron
Celtic or Illyrian origin, in
age, the Urnfield culture flourished. Numerous
Krkavče, Slovenian Istria
archeological remains dating from the Hallstatt period
have been found in Slovenia, with important
settlements in Most na Soči, Vače, and Šentvid pri Stični. Novo Mesto in Lower Carniola,
one of the most important archeological sites of the Hallstatt culture, has been nicknamed
the "City of Situlas" after numerous situlas found in the area. [6][6]

In the Iron Age, present-day Slovenia was inhabited by Illyrian and Celtic tribes until the
1st century BC, when the Romans conquered the region establishing the provinces of
Pannonia and Noricum. What is now western Slovenia was included directly under
Roman Italia as part of the X region Venetia et Histria. Important Roman towns located in
present-day Slovenia included Emona, Celeia and Poetovio. Other important settlements
were Nauportus, Neviodunum, Haliaetum, Atrans, and Stridon.

During the migration period, the region suffered invasions of many barbarian armies, due
to its strategic position as the main passage from the Pannonian plain to the Italian
peninsula. Rome finally abandoned the region at the end of the 4th century. Most cities
were destroyed, while the remaining local population moved to the highland areas,
establishing fortified towns. In the 5th century, the region was part of the Ostrogothic
kingdom, and was later contested between the Ostrogoths, the Byzantine Empire and the
Lombards.

The Middle Ages

See also: Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps and Carantania

The Slavic ancestors of

present-day Slovenes
settled in the East Alpine
area at the end of the 6th
century. Coming from two
directions, North (via
today's East Austria and
Czech Republic), settling
in the area of today's
Carinthia and west Styria
Southeastern Europe in the 8th and South (via today's
century, with Carantanians, Slavonia), settling in the
ancestors of present-day area of today's central The Freising
Slovenes, shown in periwinkle. Slovenia. This Slavic Manuscripts, dating from
the 10th century A.D.,
tribe, also known as the
most probably written in
Alpine Slavs, was submitted to Avar rule before joining the upper Carinthia, are the
Slavic chieftain Samo's Slavic tribal union in 623 AD. After oldest surviving
Samo's death, the Slavs of Carniola (in present-day documents in Slovene
Slovenia) again fell to Avar rule, while the Slavs north of the language.
Karavanke range (in present-day Austrian regions of
Carinthia, Styria and East Tyrol) established the independent principality of Carantania.
In 745, Carantania and the rest of Slavic-populated territories of present-day Slovenia,
being pressured by newly consolidated Avar power, submitted to Bavarian overrule and
were, together with the Duchy of Bavaria, incorporated into the Carolingian Empire, while
Carantanians and other Slavs living in present Slovenia converted to Christianity.

Carantania retained its internal independence until 828 when the local princes, following
the anti-Frankish rebellion of Ljudevit Posavski, were deposed and gradually replaced by
a Germanic (primarily Bavarian) ascendancy. Under Emperor Arnulf of Carinthia,
Carantania, now ruled by a mixed Bavarian-Slav nobility, shortly emerged as a regional
power, but was destroyed by the Hungarian invasions in the late 9th
century.[citation needed]
Carantania-Carinthia was established again as an
autonomous administrative unit in 976, when Emperor
Otto I, "the Great", after deposing the Duke of
Bavaria, Henry II, "the Quarreller", split the lands held
by him and made Carinthia the sixth duchy of the
Holy Roman Empire, but old Carantania never
developed into a unified realm. [citation needed] In the
late 10th and beginning of 11th century, primarily
because of the Hungarian threat, the south-eastern
border region of the German Empire was organized The installation of the Dukes in
into so called "marks", that became the core of the Carinthia, carried out in an
development of the historical Slovenian lands, the ancient ritual in Slovene
Carniola, the Styria and the western Goriška/Gorizia. language until 1414.
The consolidation and formation of the historical
Slovenian lands took place in a long period between 11th and 14th century being led by a
number of important feudal families such as the Dukes of Spannheim, the Counts of
Gorizia, the Counts of Celje and finally the House of Habsburg.

The first mentions of a common Slovene ethnic identity, transcending regional

boundaries, date from the 16th century.[7]

During the 14th century, most of the Slovene Lands passed under the Habsburg rule. In
the 15th century, the Habsburg domination was challenged by the Counts of Celje, but by
the end of the century the great majority of Slovene-inhabited territories were
incorporated into the Habsburg Monarchy. Most Slovenes lived in the administrative
region known as Inner Austria, forming the majority of the population of the Duchy of
Carniola and the County of Gorizia and Gradisca, as well as of Lower Styria and southern
Carinthia. [citation needed]

Slovenes also inhabited most of the territory of the Imperial Free City of Trieste, although
representing the minority of its population. [8]

Early Modern Period

See also: Inner Austria

In the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation

spread throughout the Slovene Lands. During this
period, the first books in the Slovene language were
written by the Protestant preacher Primož Trubar and
his followers, establishing the base for the
development of the standard Slovene language. In
the second half of the 16th century, numerous books
were printed in Slovene, including an integral
translation of the Bible by Jurij Dalmatin. During the
Counter-Reformation in the late 16th and 17th
centuries, led by the bishop of Ljubljana Tomaž Hren The Ottoman army battling the
Habsburgs in present-day
and Seckau Martin Brenner, almost all Protestants
Slovenia during the Great
 Slovenia during the Great
were expelled from the Slovene Lands (with the Turkish War.
exception of Prekmurje). Nevertheless, they left a
strong legacy in the tradition of Slovene culture, which
was partially incorporated in the Catholic Counter-Reformation in the 17th century. The
old Slovene orthography, also known as Bohorič's Alphabet, which was developed by the
Protestants in the 16th century and remained in use until mid-19th century, testified to the
unbroken tradition of Slovene culture as established in the years of the Protestant
Reformation.

Between the 15th and the 17th century, the Slovene Lands suffered many calamities.
Many areas, especially in southern Slovenia, were devastated by the Ottoman-Habsburg
Wars. Many flourishing towns, like Vipavski Križ and Kostanjevica na Krki, were
completely destroyed by incursions of the Ottoman Army, and never recovered. The
nobility of the Slovene-inhabited provinces had an important role in the fight against the
Ottoman Empire. The Carniolan noblemen's army thus defeated the Ottomans in the
Battle of Sisak of 1593, marking the end of the immediate Ottoman threat to the Slovene
Lands, although sporadic Ottoman incursions continued well into the 17th century.

In the 16th and 17th century, the western Slovene

regions became the battlefield of the wars between
the Habsburg Monarchy and the Venetian Republic,
most notably the War of Gradisca, which was largely
fought in the Slovene Goriška region. Between late
15th and early 18th century, the Slovene lands also
witnessed many peasant wars, most famous being
the Carinthian peasant revolt of 1478, the Slovene
peasant revolt of 1515, the Croatian-Slovenian
The execution of Matija Gubec, peasant revolt of 1573, the Second Slovene peasant
leader of the Croatian-Slovenian revolt of 1635, and the Tolmin peasant revolt of 1713.
peasant revolt, in 1573.
Late 17th century was also marked by a vivid
intellectual and artistic activity. Many Italian Baroque artists, mostly architects and
musicians, settled in the Slovene Lands, and contributed greatly to the development of
the local culture. Scientists like Janez Vajkard Valvasor contributed to the development of
the scholarly activities. In 1693, the first academy on Slovene soil, the Academia
operosorum Labacensis, was established. By the early 18th century, however, the region
entered another period of stagnation, which was slowly overcome only by mid-18th
century.

Age of Enlightenment to the national movement

See also: Illyrian Provinces, Kingdom of Illyria, and Spring of Nations

Between early 18th century and early 19th century,

the Slovene lands experienced a period of peace,
with a moderate economic recovery starting from mid-
18th century onward. The Adriatic town of Trieste was
declared a free port in 1718, boosting the economic
activity throughout the western parts of the Slovene
Lands. The political, administrative and economic
reforms of the Habsburg rulers Maria Theresa of
Austria and Joseph II improved the economic situation
of the peasantry, and were well received by the
emerging bourgeoisie, which was however still weak.

In the late 18th century, a process of

standardarization of Slovene language began, Peter Kozler's map of the
promoted by Carniolan clergymen like Marko Pohlin Slovene Lands, designed during
and Jurij Japelj. During the same period, peasant- the Spring of Nations in 1848,
writers began using and promoting the Slovene became the symbol of the quest
vernacular in the countryside. This popular for a United Slovenia.
movement, known as bukovniki, started among
Carinthian Slovenes as part a wider revival of Slovene literature. The Slovene cultural
tradition was strongly reinforced in the Enlightenment period in the 18th century by the
endeavours of the Zois Circle. After two centuries of stagnation, Slovene literature
emerged again, most notably in the works of the playwright Anton Tomaž Linhart and the
poet Valentin Vodnik. However, German remained the main language of culture,
administration and education well into the 19th century.

Between 1805 and 1813, Slovenia was part of the Illyrian Provinces, an autonomous
province of the Napoleonic French Empire, the capital of which was established at
Ljubljana. Although the French rule in the Illyrian Provinces was short-lived it significantly
contributed to greater national self-confidence and awareness of freedoms. The French
did not entirely abolish the feudal system, their rule familiarised in more detail the
inhabitants of the Illyrian Provinces with the achievements of the French revolution and
with contemporary bourgeois society. They introduced equality before the law,
compulsory military service and a uniform tax system, and also abolished certain tax
privileges, introduced modern administration, separated powers between the state and
the Church, and nationalised the judiciary.

In August 1813, Austria declared war on France. Austrian troops led by General Franz
Tomassich invaded the Illyrian Provinces. After this short French interim all Slovene
Lands were, once again, included in the Austrian Empire. Slowly, a distinct Slovene
national consciousness developed, and the quest for a political unification of all Slovenes
became widespread. In the 1820s and 1840s, the interest in Slovene language and
folklore grew enormously, with numerous many philologists collecting folk songs and
advancing the first steps towards a standardization of the language. A small number of
Slovene activist, mostly from Styria and Carinthia, embraced the Illyrian movement that
started in neighboring Croatia and aimed at uniting all South Slavic peoples. Pan-Slavic
and Austro-Slavic ideas also gained importance. However, the intellectual circle around
the philologist Matija Čop and the Romantic poet France Prešeren was influential in
affirming the idea of Slovene linguistic and cultural individuality, refusing the idea of
merging the Slovenes into a wider Slavic nation.

In 1848, a mass political and popular movement for the United Slovenia (Zedinjena
Slovenija) emerged as part of the Spring of Nations movement within the Austrian
Empire. Slovene activists demanded a unification of all Slovene-speaking territories in a
unified and autonomous Slovene kingdom within the Austrian Empire. Although the
project failed, it served as an almost undisputed platform of Slovene political activity in the
following decades.
Clashing nationalisms in late 19th century
See also: Ethnic and religious composition of Austria–Hungary

Between 1848 and 1918, numerous institutions

(including theatres and publishing houses, as well as
political, financial and cultural organisations) were
founded in the so-called Slovene National Awakening.
Despite their political and institutional fragmentation
and lack of proper political representation, the
Slovenes were able to establish a functioning national
infrastructure.
Members of the Catholic Orel
With the introduction of a constitution granting civil association in Lower Carniola
and political liberties in the Austrian Empire in 1860, before World War One
the Slovene national movement gained force. Despite
its internal differentiation among the conservative Old Slovenes and the progressive
Young Slovenes, the Slovene nationals defended similar programs, calling for a cultural
and political autonomy of the Slovene people. In the late 1860s and early 1870s, a series
of mass rallies called tabori, modeled on the Irish monster meetings, were organized in
support of the United Slovenia program. These rallies, attended by thousands of people,
proved the allegiance of wider strata of the Slovene population to the ideas of national
emancipation.

By the end of the 19th century, Slovenes had established a standardized literary
language, and a thriving civil society. Literacy levels were among the highest in the
Austro-Hungarian Empire, and numerous national associations were present at
grassroots level. [9] The idea of a common political entity of all South Slavs, known as
Yugoslavia, emerged.[10]

Since the 1880s, a fierce culture war between Catholic traditionalists and integralists on
one side, and liberals, progressivists and anticlericals dominated Slovene political and
public life, especially in Carniola. During the same period, the growth of industrialization
intensified social tensions. Both Socialist and Christian socialist movements mobilized the
masses. In 1905, the first Socialist mayor in the Austro-Hungarian Empire was elected in
the Slovene mining town of Idrija on the list of the Yugoslav Social Democratic Party. In
the same years, the Christian socialist activist Janez Evangelist Krek organized hundreds
of workers and agricultural cooperatives throughout the Slovene countryside.

At the turn of the 20th century, national struggles in ethnically mixed areas (especially in
Carinthia, Trieste and in Lower Styrian towns) dominated the political and social lives of
the citizenry. By the 1910s, the national struggles between Slovene and Italian speakers
in the Austrian Littoral, and Slovene and German speakers, overshadowed other political
conflicts and brought about a nationalist radicalization on both sides.

In the last two decades before World War One, Slovene arts and literature experienced
one of its most flourishing periods, with numerous talented modernist authors, painters
and architects.[11] The most important authors of this period were Ivan Cankar and Oton
Župančič, while Ivan Grohar and Rihard Jakopič were among the most talented Slovene
visual artists of the time.

After the Ljubljana earthquake of 1895, the town

The Solkan Bridge, built in 1906
in Trieste was higher than in Ljubljana.[12]
experienced a rapid modernization under the
charismatic Liberal nationalist mayors Ivan Hribar and
Ivan Tavčar. Architects like Max Fabiani and Ciril
Metod Koch introduced their own version of the
Vienna Secession architecture to Ljubljana. In the
same period, the Adriatic port of Trieste became an
increasingly important center of Slovene economy,
culture and politics. By 1910, around a third of the city
population was Slovene, and the number of Slovenes

At the turn of the 20th century, hundreds of thousands of Slovenes emigrated to other
countries, mostly to the United States, but also to South America, Germany, Egypt, and
to larger cities in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, especially Zagreb and Vienna. It has
been calculated that around 300,000 Slovenes emigrated between 1880 and 1910, which
means the one in six Slovenes left their homeland. Such disproportionally high emigration
rates resulted in a relatively small population growth in the Slovene Lands. Comparatively
to other Central European regions, the Slovene Lands lost demographic weight between
the late 18th and early 20th century.[citation needed]

World War One and the Creation of Yugoslavia

See also: Battles of the Isonzo, Corfu Declaration, Creation of Yugoslavia, Mura
Republic, and Carinthian Plebiscite

After the outbreak of World War I, the Austrian Parliament

was dissolved and civil liberties suspended. Many Slovene
political activists, especially in Carniola and Styria, were
imprisoned by Austro-Hungarian authorities on charges of
pro-Serbian or pan-slavic sympathies. 469 Slovenes were
executed on charges of treason in the first year of the war
alone, provoking a strong anti-Austrian resentment among
the national-minded strata of the Slovene population.
Hundreds of thousands of Slovene conscripts were drafted in
the Austro-Hungarian Army, and over 30,000 of them lost
their lives in the course of the war. [citation needed]

In May 1915, the fighting started on Slovene soil, as well.

Italy entered the conflict after the western allies had The Austro-Hungarian
Army in western Slovenia
supported its territorial expansion at the expense of Austria-
during the Battles of the
Hungary. In the Treaty of London of 1915, the Slovenian Isonzo
Littoral and some western districts of Carniola were
promised to Italy after the war. The Italian Royal Army
launched an attack on Austria-Hungary in 1915, thus opening the Italian front. Some of
the fiercest battles were fought along the Soča (Isonzo) river and on the Kras (Carso)
plateau in what is now western Slovenia. Entire areas of the Slovenian Littoral were
destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of Slovenes were resettled as refugees in parts of
Austria and Italy. While the situation in the Austrian refugee camps were relatively good,
Slovene refugees in Italian camps were treated as state enemies, and several thousands
died of malnutrition and diseases between 1915 and 1918. [13]

In 1917, after the Battle of Caporetto ended the fighting on Austro-Hungarian (Slovenian)
soil, the political life in Austria-Hungary resumed. The Slovene People's Party launched a
movement for self-determination, demanding the creation of a semi-independent South
Slavic state under Habsburg rule. The proposal was picked up by most Slovene parties,
and a mass mobilization of Slovene civil society, known as the Declaration Movement,
followed. By early 1918, more than 200,000 signatures were collected in favor of the
Slovene People Party's proposal.[14]

During the War, some 500 Slovenes served as volunteers in

the Serbian army, while a smaller group led by Captain
Ljudevit Pivko, served as volunteers in the Italian Army. In
the final year of the war, many predominantly Slovene
regiments in the Austro-Hungarian Army staged a mutiny
against their military leadership; the most famous mutiny of
Slovene soldiers was the Judenburg Rebellion in May
1918. [15]

With the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in October

1918, the Slovenes formed the State of Slovenes, Croats
and Serbs, which soon merged with Serbia and Montenegro
into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The
western parts of the Slovene Lands (the Slovenian Littoral
Rudolf Maister, who and western districts of Inner Carniola) were occupied by the
occupied Maribor in
Italian Army, and officially annexed to the Kingdom of Italy
November 1918, and
declared the annexation with the Treaty of Rapallo in 1920. [16]
of Lower Styria to the
State of Slovenes, Croats After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in
and Serbs late 1918, an armed dispute started between the Slovenes
and German Austria for the regions of Lower Styria and
southern Carinthia. In November 1918, Rudolf Maister seized the city of Maribor and
surrounding areas of Lower Styria in the name of the newly formed Yugoslav state.
Around the same time a group of volunteers led by Franjo Malgaj attempted to take
control of southern Carinthia. Fighting in Carinthia lasted between December 1918 and
June 1919, when the Slovene volunteers and the regular Serbian Army managed to
occupy the city of Klagenfurt. In compliance with the Treaty of Saint-Germain, the
Yugoslav forces had to withdraw from Klagenfurt, while a referendum was to be held in
other areas of southern Carinthia. In October 1920, the majority of the population of
southern Carinthia voted to remain in Austria, and only a small portion of the province
(around Dravograd and Guštanj) was awarded to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and
Slovenes. With the Treaty of Trianon, however, Yugoslavia was awarded the Slovene-
inhabited Prekmurje region, which had belonged to Hungary since the 10th century and
had little contact with the rest of the Slovene lands.[citation needed]

The interwar period

 See also: Kingdom of Yugoslavia and January 6th Dictatorship

In 1921, a centralist constitution was passed in the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes against the
vote of the great majority (70%) of Slovene MPs.
Despite the centralist policies of the Yugoslav
kingdom, Slovenes managed to maintain a high level
of cultural autonomy, and both economy and the arts
prospered. Slovene politicians participated in almost
all Yugoslav governments, and the Slovene
conservative leader Anton Korošec briefly served as
The Narodni dom, Slovene the only non-Serbian Prime Minister of Yugoslavia in
Community Hall in Trieste, the period between the two world wars.
burned down by the Fascist
squads in June 1920, became On the other hand, Slovenes in Italy, Austria and
the symbol of Fascist Hungary, became victims of policies of State policies
persecution of Slovenes and of forced assimilation and sometimes violent
Croats in the Julian March. persecution. The Slovenian Littoral was annexed to
Italy and included in the Julian March administrative
region. Between 1918 and 1922, several violent actions were directed against the
Slovene communities in Italy, both by the mob and by ultra-nationalist militias. After 1922,
a policy of violent Fascist Italianization was implemented, triggering the reaction of local
Slovenes and Istrian Croats. In 1927, the militant anti-Fascist organization TIGR (an
acronym for the place-names Trieste, Istria, Gorizia, and Rijeka) was founded. Between
1922 and 1941, more than 70,000 Slovenes fled from the Italian Julian March, mostly to
Yugoslavia, but also to Argentina and other South American countries.

In 1929, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes

was renamed to Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The
constitution was abolished, civil liberties suspended,
while the centralist pressure intensified. Slovenia was
renamed to Drava Banovina. During the whole
interwar period, Slovene voters strongly supported the
conservative Slovene People's Party, which
unsuccessfully fought for the autonomy of Slovenia
within a federalized Yugoslavia. In 1935, however, the
Slovene People's Party joined the pro-regime
Yugoslav Radical Community, opening the space for
the development of a left wing autonomist movement.
The Nebotičnik skyscraper in
In the 1930s, the economic crisis created a fertile Ljubljana, completed in 1933,
ground for the rising of both leftist and rightist was the highest building in the
radicalisms. In 1937, the Communist Party of Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Slovenia was founded as an autonomous party within
the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. Between 1938 and 1941, left liberal, Christian left
and agrarian forces established close relations with members of the illegal Communist
party, aiming at establishing a broad anti-Fascist coalition.

After 1918, Slovenia became one of the main industrial centers of Yugoslavia. Already in
1919, the industrial production in Slovenia was four times greater than in Serbia, and
twenty-two times greater than in Yugoslav Macedonia. The interwar period brought a
further industrialization in Slovenia, with a rapid economic growth in the 1920s followed
by a relatively successful economic adjustment to the 1929 economic crisis. This
development however affected only certain areas, especially the Ljubljana Basin, the
Zasavje region, parts of Slovenian Carinthia, and the urban areas around Celje and
Maribor. Tourism experienced a period of great expansion, with resort areas like Bled
and Rogaška Slatina gaining a an international reputation. Elsewhere, agriculture and
forestry remained the predominant economic activities. Nevertheless, Slovenia emerged
as one of the most prosperous and economically dynamic areas in Yugoslavia, profiting
from a large Balkanic market. Arts and literature also prospered, as did architecture. The
two largest Slovenian cities, Ljubljana and Maribor, underwent an extensive program of
urban renewal and modernization. Architects like Jože Plečnik, Ivan Vurnik and Vladimir
Šubic introduced modernist architecture to Slovenia.

World War Two

See also: Yugoslav People's Liberation War

On 6 April 1941, Yugoslavia was invaded by the Axis

Powers. Slovenia was divided among the occupying
powers: Fascist Italy occupied southern Slovenia
(Lower Carniola, Inner Carniola and Ljubljana), Nazi
Germany got northern and eastern Slovenia (Upper
Carniola, Slovenian Styria, Slovenian Carinthia and
Posavje), while Horthy's Hungary was awarded the
Prekmurje region. Some villages in south-eastern
Slovenia were annexed by the Independent State of
Croatia. Adolf Hitler and Martin Bormann
visiting occupied Maribor in April
While the Italians gave Slovenes a cultural autonomy 1941, officially launching the
within their occupation zone (the Province of Nazi anti-Slovene policies.
Ljubljana), the Nazis started a policy of violent
Germanisation, which culminated with the resettlement more than 83,000 Slovenes to
other parts of the Third Reich, as well as to Serbia and Croatia. Already in the summer of
1941, a liberation movement under the Communist leadership emerged.

Due to political assassinations carried out by the Communist squads, as well as the pre-
existing radical anti-Communism of the conservative circles of the Slovenian society, a
civil war between Slovenes broke out in the Italian-occupied south-eastern Slovenia
(known as Province of Ljubljana) in spring of 1942. The two fighting factions were the
Liberation Front of the Slovenian People and the Axis-sponsored anti-communist militia,
the Slovene Home Guard, initially formed by local anti-Communist activists in order to
protect villages from partisans' incursions.

The Slovene partisan guerrillas managed to liberate large portions of the Slovene lands,
contributing to the defeat of Nazism. As a result of the war the vast majority of the native
ethnic German population were either forcefully expelled or fled to neighboring Austria.
Immediately after the war, some 12,000 members of the Slovene Home Guard were
killed in the area of the Kočevski Rog, while thousands of anti-communist civilians were
killed in the first year after the war, many of them in concentration camps of Teharje and
Šterntal. [17]

These massacres were silenced, and remained a taboo topic until the late 1970s and
early 1980s, when dissident intellectuals brought it to public discussion. In addition,
hundreds (some say thousands) of ethnic Italians from Istria and Trieste were killed by the
Yugoslav Army and partisan forces in the Foibe massacres, while some 27,000 of them
fled Slovenia from Communist persecution in the so-called Istrian exodus. The overall
number of World War Two casualties in Slovenia is estimated to 89,000, while 14,000
people were killed immediately after the end of the war. [17] The overall number of World
War II casualties in Slovenia was thus of around 7.2% of the pre-war population, which is
above the Yugoslav average, and among the highest percentages in Europe.

The Communist period

See also: Titoism and Economy of SFR Yugoslavia

Following the re-establishment of Yugoslavia at the

end of World War II, Slovenia became part of the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, declared on
29 November 1943. A socialist state was established,
but because of the Tito-Stalin split, economic and
personal freedoms were broader than in the Eastern
Bloc. In 1947, Italy ceded most of the Julian March to
Yugoslavia, and Slovenia thus regained the Slovenian
Littoral.
Socialist Republic of Slovenia
The dispute over the port of Trieste however within the Socialist Federal
remained opened until 1954, until the short-lived Free Republic of Yugoslavia
Territory of Trieste was divided among Italy and
Yugoslavia, thus giving Slovenia access to the sea. This division was ratified only in 1975
with the Treaty of Osimo, which gave a final legal sanction to Slovenia's long disputed
western border. From the 1950s, the Socialist Republic of Slovenia enjoyed a relatively
wide autonomy.

Between 1945 and 1948, a wave of political repressions took place in Slovenia and in
Yugoslavia. Thousands of people were imprisoned for their political beliefs. Several tens
of thousands of Slovenes left Slovenia immediately after the war in fear of Communist
persecution. Many of them settled in Argentina, which became the core of Slovenian anti-
Communist emigration. More than 50,000 more followed in the next decade, frequently
for economic reasons, as well as political ones. These later waves of Slovene immigrants
mostly settled in Canada and in Australia, but also in other western countries.

In 1948, the Tito-Stalin split took place. In the first years following the split, the political
repression worsened, as it extended to Communists accused of Stalinism. Hundreds of
Slovenes were imprisoned in the concentration camp of Goli Otok, together with
thousands of people of other nationalities. Among the show trials that took place in
Slovenia between 1945 and 1950, the most important were the Nagode trial against
democratic intellectuals and left liberal activists (1946) and the Dachau trials (1947–
1949), where former inmates of Nazi concentration camps were accused of collaboration
with the Nazis. Many members of the Roman Catholic clergy suffered persecution. The
case of bishop of Ljubljana Anton Vovk, who was doused with gasoline and set on fire by
Communist activists during a pastoral visit to Novo Mesto in January 1952, echoed in the
western press.

Between 1949 and 1953, a forced collectivization was

attempted. After its failure, a policy of gradual
liberalization was followed. A new economic policy,
known as workers self-management started to be
implemented under the advice and supervision of the
main theorist of the Yugoslav Communist Party, the
Slovene Edvard Kardelj.

In the late 1950s, Slovenia was the first of the

Yugoslav republics to begin a process of relative
pluralization. A decade of fervent cultural and literary
production followed, with many tensions between the Marshal Josip Broz Tito
regime and the dissident intellectuals. By the late consulting with Edvard Kardelj
1960s, the reformist faction gained control of the (right), the ideologue of the
Slovenian Communist Party, launching a series of Communist Party of Yugoslavia,
and one of the most powerful
reforms, aiming at the modernization of Slovenian
people in Slovenia after 1945.
society and economy. In 1973, this trend was stopped
by the conservative faction of the Slovenian
Communist Party, backed by the Yugoslav Federal government. A period known as the
"years of lead" (Slovene: svinčena leta) followed.

From the late 1950s onward, dissident circles started to be formed, mostly around short-
lived independent journals, such as Revija 57 (1957–1958), which was the first
independent intellectual journal in Yugoslavia and one of the first of this kind in the
Communist bloc,[18] and Perspektive (1960–1964). Among the most important critical
public intellectuals in this period were the sociologist Jože Pučnik, the poet Edvard
Kocbek, and the literary historian Dušan Pirjevec.

In the 1980s, Slovenia experienced a rise of cultural pluralism. Numerous grass-roots

political, artistic and intellectual movements emerged, including the Neue Slowenische
Kunst, the Ljubljana school of psychoanalysis, and the Nova revija intellectual circle. By
the mid 1980s, a reformist fraction, led by Milan Kučan, took control of the Slovenian
Communist Party, starting a gradual reform towards a market socialism and controlled
political pluralism.

The Yugoslav economic crisis of the 1980s increased the struggles within the Yugoslav
Communist regime regarding the appropriate economic measures to be undertaken.
Slovenia, which had less than 10% of overall Yugoslav population, produced around a
fifth of the country's GDP and a fourth of all Yugoslav exports. The political disputes
around economic measures was echoed in the public sentiment, as many Slovenes felt
they were being economically exploited, having to sustain an expensive and inefficient
federal administration.

Democracy and independence

See also: Breakup of Yugoslavia, Contributions for the Slovenian National Program,
 Ljubljana trial, and Ten-Day War

In 1987 and 1988, a series of clashes between the

emerging civil society and the Communist regime
culminated with the so-called Slovenian Spring. A
mass democratic movement, coordinated by the
Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, pushed
the Communists in the direction of democratic
reforms. These revolutionary events in Slovenia pre-
dated by almost one year the Revolutions of 1989 in
A column of the Yugoslav Eastern Europe, but went largely unnoticed by
People's Army during the Ten- international observers.
Day War
At the same time, the
confrontation between the Slovenian Communists and the
Serbian Communist Party, dominated by the charismatic
nationalist leader Slobodan Milošević, became the most
important political struggle in Yugoslavia. The poor
economic performance of the Federation, and rising
clashes between the different republics, created a fertile
soil for the rise of secessionist ideas among Slovenes, both
anti-Communists and Communists. In January 1990, the
Slovenian Communists left the Congress of the Communist
Party of Yugoslavia in protest against the domination of the
Serb nationalist leadership, thus effectively dissolving the
Yugoslav Communist Party, the only remaining institution
holding the country together. Janez Drnovšek, Prime
Minister of Slovenia
In April 1990, the first free and democratic elections were between 1992 and 2002,
and President of Slovenia
held, and the Democratic Opposition of Slovenia defeated
between 2002 and 2007
the former Communist party. A coalition government led by
the Christian Democrat Lojze Peterle was formed, and
began economic and political reforms that established a market economy and a liberal
democratic political system. At the same time, the government pursued the
independence of Slovenia from Yugoslavia. In December 1990, a referendum on the
independence of Slovenia was held, in which the overwhelming majority of Slovenian
residents (around 89%) voted for the independence of Slovenia from Yugoslavia.
Independence was declared on 25 June 1991. A short Ten-Day War followed, in which
the Slovenian forces successfully rejected Yugoslav military interference.

After 1990, a stable democratic system evolved, with economic liberalization and gradual
growth of prosperity. Slovenia joined NATO on 29 March 2004 and the European Union
on 1 May 2004. Slovenia was the first post-Communist country to hold the Presidency of
the Council of the European Union, for the first six months of 2008.

Politics
Main article: Politics of Slovenia
See also: Foreign relations of Slovenia
As a young independent republic, Slovenia pursued
economic stabilisation and further political openness,
while emphasising its Western outlook and Central
European heritage. Today, with a growing regional
profile, a participant in the SFOR peacekeeping
deployment in Bosnia-Hercegovina and the KFOR
deployment in Kosovo, and a charter World Trade
Organization member, Slovenia plays a role on the
world stage quite out of proportion to its small size.
The Slovenian National
Assembly.
The Slovenian head of state is the president, who is
elected by popular vote every five years, and has
mainly advisory and ceremonial duties. The executive branch is headed by the prime
minister and the council of ministers or cabinet, who are elected by the National
Assembly.

The incompletely bicameral Parliament of Slovenia is characterised by an asymmetric

duality. The bulk of the power is concentrated in the National Assembly (Državni zbor),
while the National Council (Državni svet) only has a very limited advisory and control
powers. The National Assembly has ninety members, 88 of which are elected by all the
citizens in a system of proportional representation, while two are elected by the registered
members of the autochthonous Hungarian and Italian minorities.

Elections take place every four years. The National Assembly is the supreme
representative and legislative institution, exercising legislative and electoral powers as
well as control over the Executive and the Judiciary. The National Council has forty
members, appointed to represent social, economic, professional and local interest
groups. Among its most important powers is the "postponing veto" — the National Council
return a bill to the National Assembly for further discussion. The veto can be overrun by
the National Assembly a majority vote.

The government, like most of the Slovenian polity, shares a common view of the
desirability of a close association with the West, specifically of membership in both the
European Union and NATO.

Between 1992 and 2004, the Slovenian political

scene was characterized by the rule of the Liberal
Democracy of Slovenia, which carried out much of the
economic and political transformation of the country.
The party's president Janez Drnovšek, who served as
Prime Minister between 1992 and 2002, was the one
of the most influential Slovenian politician of the
1990s, together with the Slovenian President Milan
Kučan (served between 1990 and 2002), who was
credited for the peaceful transition from Communism
to democracy. Current President of Slovenia,
dr. Danilo Türk, speaking at a
Throughout this period, a policy of relative consensus ceremony on the 65th
between left and right wing political parties was anniversary of the end of World
War Two and the liberation of
followed, favouring grand coalitions over single-party
Ljubljana from Nazi German
 Ljubljana from Nazi German
governments. Nevertheless, several serious clashes occupation, in May 2010.
occurred between left wing and right wing parties in
the 1990s, with many corruption scandals, as well as
scandals involving secret services, the interference of the army in the civil sphere, and
arms trafficking. The relationship between the State and the Roman Catholic Church was
also an important political issue in the 1990s, and has remained a source of controversy.

In 2004, the ruling Liberal Democracy suffered a severe defeat that brought the right wing
Slovenian Democratic Party to power. Between 2004 and 2007, the Liberal Democracy
lost much of its influence due to internal struggles, enabling the rise of the left wing Social
Democrats as the main opposition force to the center-right government of Janez Janša.
In 2008, the left wing coalition headed by the Social Democrat Borut Pahor won the
elections by a narrow margin. Since 2004, Slovenia has been moving towards a two-party
system, with the Slovenian Democratic Party and the Social Democrats as two major
political forces.

On the general level, the Slovenian left tends to favor

a strong welfare state over economic freedom and is
often characterized by protectionist policies towards
nationally owned business, while the right wing
stresses economic freedom and follows more friendly
policies towards foreign investments. Regarding
social policies, the left tends to be more inclusive
towards immigrants and ethnic and social minorities,
while being rather critical to the role of the Roman
Catholic Church in public life. The right wing, on the
other hand, is more socially conservative and more in Trade Union demonstrations on
the Congress Square in
favour of religious communities, especially the
Ljubljana against the economic
Catholic Church. liberalisation reforms proposed
by the centre-right government
Issues such as the relations between public and of Janez Janša, December
private education, the role of private enterprise in 2005.
public health care and the regionalization of the
country have been important divisive issues in the past years. In general, the right wing
parties draw most of their support from eastern and northern Slovenia, and from rural
areas and smaller towns throughout the country, while the left wing is stronger in western
Slovenia, in the industrialized towns throughout the country, and in bigger urban centers,
especially in Ljubljana.

Despite apparent bitterness that divides the left and right political forces in contemporary
Slovenia, much of which derives from a different stand towards the Communist past,
there are few fundamental philosophical differences between them in the area of public
policy. Slovenian society is built on consensus, which has converged on a social-
democrat model of welfare state. Political differences tend to be rooted in the roles that
groups and individuals played during the years of Communist rule, and during the
struggle for independence and democracy in the 1980s, rather than in radically different
economic policies.

Unlike many other former Communist countries, Slovenia pursued internal economic
restructuring with caution, giving a clear preference to an approach of gradual economic
transformation, and rejecting shock therapies. The first phase of privatisation (socially
owned property under the SFRY system) is now complete, and sales of remaining large
state holdings are planned for next year. Trade has been diversified toward the West
(trade with EU countries make up 66% of total trade in 2000) and the growing markets of
central and eastern Europe. Manufacturing accounts for most employment, with
machinery and other manufactured products comprising the major exports. The economy
provides citizens with a good standard of living.

Main office holders

Office Name Party Since
23 December
President Danilo Türk Independent
2007
21 November
Prime Minister Borut Pahor Social Democrats
2008
President of the National
Pavel Gantar Zares 15 October 2008
Assembly
Samuel 21 November
Minister of Foreign Affairs Social Democrats
Žbogar 2008
Katarina Liberal Democracy of 21 November
Minister of Interior
Kresal Slovenia 2008
Ljubica 21 November
Minister of Defence Social Democrats
Jelušič 2008
Liberal Democracy of 21 November
Minister of Justice Aleš Zalar
Slovenia 2008
Franc 21 November
Minister of Finance Social Democrats
Križanič 2008

Administrative divisions
Main articles: Statistical regions of Slovenia and Municipalities of Slovenia

Officially, Slovenia is subdivided into 210 municipalities (eleven of which have the status
of urban municipalities). The municipalities are the only body of local autonomy in
Slovenia. Besides, there also exist 62 administrative districts, officially called
"Administrative Units" (upravne enote), which are not a body of local self-government, but
territorial sub-units of government administration. The Administrative Units are named
after their capital, and are headed by a Head of the Unit (načelnik upravne enote),
appointed by the Minister of Public Administration.

However, regional identity is strong in Slovenia. The traditional regions of Slovenia, based
on the former four Habsburg crown lands (Carniola, Carinthia, Styria, and the Littoral) are
the following:

English name Native name Largest city

English name Native name Largest city
Slovenian
Primorska Koper
Littoral
Upper Carniola Gorenjska Kranj
Inner Carniola Notranjska Postojna
Lower Carniola Dolenjska Novo Mesto
Ravne na
Carinthia Koroška
Koroškem
Traditional regions
Lower Styria Štajerska Maribor
Prekmurje Prekmurje Murska Sobota

The city of Ljubljana was historically the

administrative center of Upper Carniola. However,
from the mid 19th century onward, it has not been
considered as part of any of the three subdivisions of
Carniola (Upper, Lower and Inner
Carniola). [citation needed] Nowadays, it is not
considered part of any of the traditional historical
regions of Slovenia.[citation needed]
Statistical regions
For statistical reasons, Slovenia is also subdivied into
12 statistical regions, who have no administrative function. These are further subdivided
into two macroregions, for the purpose of the Regional policy of the European Union.
These two macroregions are:

East Slovenia (Vzhodna Slovenija – SI01), which groups the regions of Pomurska,
Podravska, Koroška, Savinjska, Zasavska, Spodnjeposavska, Jugovzhodna
Slovenija and Notranjsko-kraška.

West Slovenia (Zahodna Slovenija – SI02), which groups the regions of

Osrednjeslovenska, Gorenjska, Goriška and Obalno-kraška.

Geography
Main article: Geography of Slovenia
See also: Protected areas of Slovenia

Slovenia is situated in Central Europe

touching the Alps and bordering the
Mediterranean. It lies between latutudes
45° and 47° N, and longitudes 13° and 17°
E. The 15th meridian east almost
corresponds to the middle line of the
country in the direction west-east.[19] The
geographical centre of Slovenia is at the
coordinates 46°07'11.8" N and 14°48'55.2"
E. It lies in Spodnja Slivna near Vače in
the municipality of Litija. Slovenia's highest
peak is Triglav (2,864 m/9,396 ft); the
Topographic map of Slovenia
country's average height above sea level
is 557 m (1,827 ft).

Four major European geographic regions meet in Slovenia: the Alps, the Dinarides, the
Pannonian Plain, and the Mediterranean. Although on the shore of the Adriatic Sea, near
the Mediterranean, most of Slovenia is in the Black Sea drainage basin. The Alps—
including the Julian Alps, the Kamnik-Savinja Alps and the Karavanke chain, as well as
the Pohorje massif—dominate Northern Slovenia along its long border with Austria.
Slovenia's Adriatic coastline stretches approximately 47 km (29 mi) [20] from Italy to
Croatia. The term "Karst topography" refers to that of southwestern Slovenia's Kras
Plateau, a limestone region of underground rivers, gorges, and caves, between Ljubljana
and the Mediterranean. On the Pannonian plain to the East and Northeast, toward the
Croatian and Hungarian borders, the landscape is essentially flat. However, the majority
of Slovenian terrain is hilly or mountainous, with around 90% of the surface 200 m (656
ft) or more above sea level.

Around half of the country (11,691 km 2 /4,514 sq mi) is covered by forests; the third most
forested country in Europe, after Finland and Sweden. Remnants of primeval forests are
still to be found, the largest in the Kočevje area. Grassland covers 5,593 km 2 (2,159
sq mi) and fields and gardens (954 km 2 /368 sq mi). There are 363 km 2 (140 sq mi) of
orchards and 216 km 2 (83 sq mi) of vineyards. There is a Continental climate in the
northeast, a severe Alpine climate in the high mountain regions, and a sub-Mediterranean
climate in the coastal region. Yet there is a strong interaction between these three
climatic systems across most of the country. This variety is also reflected in climatic
variability over time and is an important factor determining the impact of global climate
change in the country.

Julian Alps, part of the Triglav National Park

Natural regions
The first regionalisations of Slovenia were made by
geographers Anton Melik (1935–1936) and Svetozar
Ilešič (1968). The newer regionalisation by Ivan Gams
divides Slovenia in the following macroregions:

the Alps (visokogorske Alpe)

the Prealpine Hills (predalpsko hribovje)
the Ljubljana Basin (Ljubljanska kotlina)
Submediterranean (Littoral) Slovenia
(submediteranska – primorska Slovenija) Landscape types in Slovenia
the Dinaric Karst of inner Slovenia (dinarski kras Alpine landscape
notranje Slovenije)
Panonnian landscape
Subpannonian Slovenia (subpanonska
Slovenija) Dinaric landscape
Mediterranean landscape
According to a newer natural geographic
regionalisation, the country consists of four
macroregions. These are the Alpine, the Mediterranean, the Dinaric, and the Pannonian
landscapes. Macroregions are defined according to major relief units (the Alps, the
Pannonian plain, the Dinaric mountains) and climate types (submediterranean, temperate
continental, mountain climate). [21] These are often quite interwoven.

Protected areas of Slovenia include national parks, regional parks, and nature parks.
Under the Wild Birds Directive, 26 sites totalling roughly 25% of the nation's land are
"Special Protected Areas"; the Natura 2000 proposal would increase the totals to 260
sites and 32% of national territory.[citation needed]

Biodiversity
Although Slovenia is a small country, there is an exceptionally wide variety of habitats. In
the north of Slovenia are the Alps (namely, Julian Alps, Karavanke, Kamnik Alps), and in
the south stand the Dinaric Alps. There is also a small area of the Pannonian plain and a
Littoral Region. Much of southwestern Slovenia is characterised by Classical Karst, a
very rich, often unexplored underground habitat containing diverse flora and fauna.

58.5% of the country is covered by forests making it

the third most forested country in Europe. [22] The
forests are an important natural resource, but logging
is kept to a minimum, as Slovenians also value their
forests for the preservation of natural diversity, for
enriching the soil and cleansing the water and air, for
the social and economic benefits of recreation and
tourism, and for the natural beauty they give to the
Slovenian landscape. In the interior of the country are Olm can be found in Postojna
typical Central European forests, predominantly oak cave and others caves in country
and beech. In the mountains, spruce, fir, and pine are
more common. The tree line is at 1,700 to 1,800 metres (or 5,575 to 5,900 ft).

Pine trees also grow on the Kras plateau, although

only one third of the region is now covered by pine
forest. The Kras and White Carniola are known for the
proteus. The lime/linden tree, also common in
 Slovenian forests, is a national symbol.

In the Alps, flowers such as Daphne blagayana,

various gentians (Gentiana clusii, Gentiana froelichi),
Primula auricula, edelweiss (the symbol of Slovene
mountaineering), Cypripedium calceolus, Fritillaria
meleagris (snake's head fritillary), and Pulsatilla
grandis are found. [citation needed]
A modern Lipizzan The country's
fauna includes
marmots, Alpine ibex, and chamois. There are
numerous deer, roe deer, boar, and hares. The
edible dormouse is often found in the Slovenian
beech forests. Hunting these animals is a long
tradition and is well described in the book The Glory
of the Duchy of Carniola (Slovene: Slava vojvodine
Kranjske, 1689), written by Janez Vajkard Valvasor
(1641–1693). Some important carnivores include the
Eurasian lynx (reintroduced to the Kočevje area in
1973), European wild cats, foxes (especially the red Carniolan honey bee, is native to
fox), and European jackal. [23] There are also Slovenia and it is the subspecies
of the Western honey bee
hedgehogs, martens, and snakes such as vipers and
grass snakes. As of March 2005, Slovenia also has a
limited population of wolves and around four hundred brown bears.

There is a wide variety of birds, such as the Tawny Owl, the Long-eared Owl, the Eagle
Owl, hawks, and Short-toed Eagles. Various other birds of prey have been recorded, as
well as a growing number of ravens, crows and magpies migrating into Ljubljana and
Maribor where they thrive.[citation needed] Other birds include (both Black and Green)
Woodpeckers and the White Stork, which nests in Prekmurje. The marble trout or
marmorata (Salmo marmoratus) is an indigenous Slovenian fish. [citation needed] Extensive
breeding programmes have been introduced to repopulate the marble trout into lakes and
streams invaded by non-indigenous species of trout.

The only regular species of cetaceans found in the northern Adriatic sea is the bottlenose
dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).[24]

Domestic animals originating in Slovenia include the indigenous Karst Shepherd, the
Carniolan honeybee and the Lipizzan horse. [citation needed] The latter two have also been
treated as national symbols of Slovena: the Carniolan bee since the times of Romantic
nationalism, while the Lipizzan started being treated as such in the 20th
century.[citation needed]

Slovenia is a veritable cornucopia of forest, cavern and mountain-dwelling wildlife. Many

species that are endangered or can no longer be found in other parts of Europe can still
be found here. [citation needed]
Economy
Main article: Economy of Slovenia

Slovenia has a high-income developed economy

Slovenian Chamber of
Commerce and Industry in
Ljubljana
which enjoys the highest GDP per capita of the new
member states in the European Union, at $29,521 in
2008, [25] or 91% of the EU average. [26] Slovenia
today is a developed country that enjoys prosperity
and stability, as well as a GDP per capita substantially
higher than that of the other transitioning economies
of Central Europe. In 2009, it had a GDP (PPP) per
capita of 27,654 International dollars, which is
approximately the same level of South Korea, New
Zealand and Israel. Slovenia benefits from a well-
educated and productive work force, and its political
and economic institutions are vigorous and effective.

There is however a big difference in prosperity between Western Slovenia (Ljubljana, the
Slovenian Littoral and Upper Carniola) with a GDP per capita at 106.7% of the EU
average, which is at the level of certain prosperous European areas such as East
Flanders, Outer London or Alsace, and South Eastern Slovenia (Inner Carniola, Lower
Carniola, Slovenian Styria, Slovenian Carinthia and Prekmurje) which has a GDP per
capita at 72.5% of the EU average, comparable to the poorest regions of Spain or Italy,
such as Extremadura or Basilicata. The economically most prosperous regions of
Slovenia are Central Slovenia and the Slovenian Littoral, while the poorest are
Prekmurje, the Central Sava Valley and Slovenian Carinthia. [27]

Although Slovenia has taken a cautious, deliberate approach to economic management

and reform, with heavy emphasis on achieving consensus before proceeding, its overall
record is one of success. Slovenia's trade is oriented towards other EU countries, mainly
Germany, Austria, Italy, and France. This is the result of a wholesale reorientation of
trade toward the West and the growing markets of central and eastern Europe in the face
of the collapse of its Yugoslav markets. Slovenia's economy is highly dependent on
foreign trade.

Trade equals about 120 % of GDP (exports and imports

combined). About two-thirds of Slovenia's trade is with EU
members.This high level of openness makes it extremely
sensitive to economic conditions in its main trading partners
and changes in its international price competitiveness.
However, despite the economic slowdown in Europe in
2001–03, Slovenia maintained 3% GDP growth. Keeping
labour costs in line with productivity is thus a key challenge
for Slovenia's economic well-being, and Slovenian firms
have responded by specialising in mid- to high-tech
manufacturing. Industry and construction comprise over one-
Since 2007 Slovenia is
third of GDP. As in most industrial economies, services
part of a monetary union,
make up an increasing share of output (57.1%), notably in the Eurozone (dark blue)
 the Eurozone (dark blue)
financial services. [citation needed]

A big portion of the economy remains in state hands and foreign direct investment (FDI)
in Slovenia is one of the lowest in the EU per capita. Taxes are relatively high, the labor
market is seen by business interests as being inflexible, and industries are losing sales to
China, India, and elsewhere. [28] Unemployment used to be relatively low, but it rose to
5.5% in 2009 and to 8.4% in 2010. [29]

During the first decade of the 21st century, privatisations were seen in the banking,
telecommunications, and public utility sectors. Restrictions on foreign investment are
being dismantled, and foreign direct investment (FDI) is expected to increase. Slovenia is
the economic front-runner of the countries that joined the European Union in 2004, was
the first new member which adopted the euro on 1 January 2007 and held the presidency
of the European Union in the first half of 2008.

In the late 2000s economic crisis, Slovenian economy suffered a severe setback. In
2009, the Slovenian GDP per capita shrunk by −7.33 %, which was the biggest fall in the
European Union after the Baltic countries and Finland. Unemployment rose from 5.1% in
2008 to 8.4% in 2010, [30] which is still under the average in the European Union. As of
January 2011, the total national debt of Slovenia is unknown, but has been estimated by
the media to amount to 22,43 billion euros or almost 63% of GDP, surpassing the
European Union limit of 60% of GDP. [31]

Tourism
Slovenia offers
tourists a wide
variety of
landscapes in a
small space:
Alpine in the
northwest,
Mediterranean in
Piran, town in southwestern
Postojna Cave the southwest, Slovenia on the Gulf of Piran
Pannonian in the
northeast and
Dinaric in the southeast.

The nation's capital, Ljubljana, has many important

Lake Bled, one of the most
popular tourist destinations in
Slovenia
Baroque and Vienna Secession buildings, with
several important works of the native born architect
Jože Plečnik. Other attractions include the Julian Alps
with picturesque Lake Bled and the Soča Valley, as
well as the nation's highest peak, Mount Triglav.
Perhaps even more famous is Slovenia's karst named
after the Karst Plateau in the Slovenian Littoral. More
than 28 million visitors have visited the Postojna
Cave, while a 15-minute ride from it are the Škocjan
Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Several
other caves are open to public, including the Vilenica Cave (the oldest show cave in
Europe and the venue of an annual literary festival).

Further in the same direction is the Adriatic coast in Slovenian Istria, where the most
important historical monument is the Venetian Gothic Mediterranean town of Piran. The
former fishermen town of Izola has also been transformed into a popular tourist
destination; many tourists also appreciate the old Medieval center of the port of Koper,
which is however less popular among tourists than the other two Slovenian coastal towns.

The hills around Slovenia's second-largest city, Maribor, are renowned for their wine-
making. Even though Slovenes tend to consume most of the wine they produce, some
brands like Ljutomer have made their appearance abroad. The northeastern part of the
country is rich with spas, with Rogaška Slatina being perhaps its most prominent site.
Spa tourism has grown in importance in the last two decades, attracting many German,
Austrian, Italian and Russian visitors. Important spas in Slovenia include Radenci, Čatež
ob Savi, Dobrna, and Moravske Toplice.

Rural tourism is important throughout the country, and

it is especially developed in the Kras region, parts of
Inner Carniola, Lower Carniola and Slovenian Istria,
and in the area around Podčetrtek and Kozje in
eastern Styria. Horse-riding, cycling and hiking are
among the most important tourist activities in these
areas.

Triglav National Park

(Slovene: Triglavski
narodni park) was The spa town of Rogaška Slatina
named after Mount
Triglav, a national symbol of Slovenia and situated almost
in the middle of the park. From it the valleys spread out
radially, supplying water to two large river systems having
their sources in the Julian Alps: the Soča and the Sava,
flowing to the Adriatic and Black Sea, respectively.

Gambling tourism is very important in Slovenia. Slovenia is

the country with the highest percentage of casinos per
1,000 inhabitants in the European Union. The casino Perla
in Nova Gorica is considered the largest casino in
Europe. [32] Other important casinos include the Hotel Park
Predjama Castle in Inner casino in Nova Gorica, the Portorož casino, and the Bled
Carniola casino. Several smaller gambling places exist in Slovenia,
especially in the Goriška region.

The proposal for conservation dates back to the year 1908, and was realised in 1924.
Then, on the initiative taken by the Nature Protection Section of the Slovene Museum
Society together with the Slovene Mountaineering Society, a twenty year lease was taken
out on the Triglav Lakes Valley area, some 14 km². It was destined to become an Alpine
Protection Park, however permanent conservation was not possible at that time.In 1961,
after many years of effort, the protection was renewed (this time on a permanent basis)
and somewhat enlarged, embracing around 20 km². The protected area was officially
designated as the Triglav National Park. Under this act, however, all objectives of a true
national park were not attained and for this reason over the next two decades, new
proposals for the extension and rearrangement of the protection were put forward. Finally,
in 1981, a rearrangement was achieved and the park was given a new concept and
enlarged to 838 km² – the area it continues to cover to this day.

The Karavanke mountain range and the Kamnik Alps

are also important tourist destinations, as are the
Pohorje mountains. Unlike the Julian Alps, however,
these areas seem to attract mostly Slovene visitors
and visitor from the neighboring regions of Austria,
and remain largely unknown to tourists from other
countries. The biggest exception is the Logar Valley,
which has been promoted heavily since the 1980s.
Krvavec Ski Resort in the
Slovenia has a number of smaller Medieval towns, Kamnik-Savinja Alps
which serve as important tourist attractions. Among
them, the most famous are Ptuj, Škofja Loka and Piran. Fortified villages, mostly located
in western Slovenia (Štanjel, Vipavski Križ, Šmartno), have become an important tourist
destination, as well, especially due to the cultural events organized in their scenic
environments.

An important attraction are Slovenia's many castles and medieval fortresses, although
many have been destroyed in World War Two and only a few have been renovated. The
most popular tourist sights among Slovenian castles are the Predjama Castle near
Postojna, the Bled Castle, the Snežnik Castle, and the Otočec Castle near Novo Mesto.

Transport
Main article: Transport in Slovenia

Railways

Main article: Slovenian Railways

The Slovenian Railways company operates 1,229 km of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1 ⁄2 in) standard

gauge tracks, 331 km as double track, and reaches all regions of the country. It is well
connected to every surrounding country reflecting the fact that Slovenia used to be part of
the Austro-Hungarian Empire and later of Yugoslavia.

Electrification is provided by a 3 kV DC system and covers about 503 km. The remainder
of the former Yugoslavian railroads that have been electrified operate with 25 kV AC
system, thus trains to Zagreb will be switching engines at Dobova until dual system
engines are available.

Highways

Main article: Highways in Slovenia

Highways are the central state roads in Slovenia and

are divided into motorways (Slovene: avtocesta, AC)
and expressways (hitra cesta, HC). Motorways are
dual carriageways with a speed limit of 130 kilometres
per hour (81 mph). They have white-on-green road
signs as in Italy, Croatia and other countries nearby.
Expressways are secondary roads, also dual
carriageways, but without an emergency lane. They
have a speed limit of 100 kilometres per hour (62
mph) and have white-on-blue road signs. Črni Kal Viaduct on the A1
motorway
The first highway in Slovenia, the A1 motorway, was
opened in 1972, connecting Vrhnika and Postojna. [33]
Constructed under the reformist minded Communist government of Stane Kavčič, their
development plan envisioned a modern highway network spanning Slovenia and
connecting the republic to Italy and Austria. After the reformist fraction of the Communist
Party of Slovenia was deposed in the early 1970s, the expansion of the Slovenian
highway network came to a halt. [citation needed]

In 1994, the new country started the National Motorway Construction Programme (NPIA),
effectively re-using the old Communist plans. Since then, 528 km of motorways,
expressways and similar roads have been completed, [33] easing automotive transport
across the country and providing a much better road service between eastern and
western Europe. This has encouraged the development of transportation and export
industries.

Highways and accessory structures in Slovenia are managed by the state-owned

Motorway Company in the Republic of Slovenia (Družba za avtoceste v Republiki
Sloveniji, acronym DARS) established in 1994. As of January 2011, DARS is managing
and maintaining 533.3 km (331.38 mi) of motorways, 73.3 km (45.55 mi) of expressways,
161 km (100.04 mi) of access roads and 27 km (16.78 mi) of rest areas. [34] Since the 1
June 2008, highway users in Slovenia are required to buy a vignette. 7-day, 1-month and
12-month passes are available.

According to the Slovenian Motorway Company Act valid since December 2010, the
construction and building of highways in Slovenia is carried out and financed by private
companies, primarily the Motorway Company in the Republic of Slovenia (planned to
become at least partially private), while the strategic planning and the acquisition of land
for their course is carried out and financed by the state. [35][36] The highways are owned
by DARS.[37]

Ports and harbours

Until the end of World War I, the main Austrian

imperial port of Trieste (Slovene: Trst, German:
Triest) was the main port in the Slovene Lands, and it
was of crucial importance for Slovenian economy.
When in 1918 the city came under Italian rule, the
economic connection between Trieste and Slovenia
was severely weakened. After a short period as a free
state, Trieste came again under Italy with the London
Memorandum of Understanding of 1954. At that point,
the Slovenian government saw the need for a new The Port of Koper
port.

Thus the Port of Koper was established in 1957 and opened to international trade in
1958. The port has since been much expanded, and in 2007 more than 15 million tonnes
of cargo passed through it, making it the second biggest port in the North Eastern Adriatic
after Trieste and before Rijeka. In 2010, the Port of Koper surpassed the port of Trieste
for the first time in its history, becoming the largest port in the region.[38]

Further development and expansion of the port in Koper now depends largely on the
construction of the third pier and on the opening of a second rail track between Koper and
the Slovene rail network to ease the transport of goods from the port to the rest of
Slovenia and Europe. This work still needs to be announced by the national government
and local authorities, with whom the provision of these new facilities largely rests.

Airports

Slovenia has three significant international airports.

Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport is by far the busiest
airport in the country with connections to many major
European destinations. More than 1.5 million
passengers and 22,000 tonnes of cargo pass through
the airport each year. The second largest
international airport is the Maribor Edvard Rusjan
Airport. However, this airport has struggled since
Slovenian independence due to negative economic Cerklje ob Krki Air Base
changes that affected the Maribor region. Only 30,000
passengers passed through in 2007. Portorož Airport, located near Sečovlje on the
Slovene coast, close to the resort town of Portorož, serves only small private aircraft.
Slovenia also has an active Air Force Base in Cerklje ob Krki Air Base.

Demographics
Main article: Demographics of Slovenia
See also: Slovenes and The Erased

Slovenia's main ethnic group is Slovene Ethnic composition of Slovenia[1]

(83%). Ethnic groups from other parts of
Slovene   83.06%
the former Yugoslavia (Serbs, Croats,
Serbian   1.98%
Bosnians, Macedonians, Montenegrins
Croatian   1.81%
and people who consider themselves Bosnian   1.10%
"Yugoslavs") form 5.3%, and the other minorities   4.85%
Hungarian, Albanian, Roma, Italian and undeclared or
other minorities form 2.8% of the   8.9%
unknown
population. Ethnic affiliation of 8.9% was
either undeclared or unknown.
Life expectancy in 2007 was 74.6 years for men and 81.8 years for women. [39] In 2009,
the suicide rate was 22 per 100,000 persons per year, which places Slovenia among the
highest ranked European countries in this regard. Nonetheless, in the last decade a
downward trend in suicide has been observed. According to the Institute of Public Health,
suicide in Slovenia grows with age. Older men commit suicide more often than older
women. [40]

With 99 inhabitants per square kilometre (256/sq mi), Slovenia ranks low among the
European countries in population density (compared to 320/km² (829/sq mi) for the
Netherlands or 195/km² (505/sq mi) for Italy). The Notranjska-Kras statistical region has
the lowest population density while the Central Slovenian statistical region has the
highest. Approximately 51% of the population lives in urban areas and 49% in rural
areas.

Urbanization
Main article: List of cities in Slovenia

Slovenia is divided into 210 local municipalities, eleven of which have urban status. Each
municipality is headed by a Mayor (župan), elected every 4 years by popular vote, and a
Municipal Council (občinski svet). In the majority of the municipalities, the municipal
council is elected through the system of proportional representation; only few smaller
municipalities use the plurality voting system. In the urban municipalities, the municipal
councils are called City Councils.

Every municipality also has a Head of the Municipal Administration (načelnik občinske
uprave), appointed by the Mayor, who is responsible for the functioning of the local
administration.

Urban municipalities in Slovenia

Rank City Population
1 279,653
Ljubljana
2 112,642
Maribor
3 Kranj 53,000 Novo mesto
4 48,081
Ljubljana Celje
5 47,539
Koper/Capodistria
6 40,925
Velenje
Novo mesto
7 33,331
Maribor Velenje
8 32,763
Nova Gorica
Nova Gorica
 9 23,242 Nova Gorica
Ptuj
Kranj
10 20,080
Murska Sobota
11 Slovenj Gradec 12,779
Ptuj

Celje

Murska Sobota

Koper

Slovenj Gradec

Languages
Main articles: Slovene language and Languages of Slovenia

The official language in Slovenia is Slovene, which is a

member of the South Slavic language group. Slovene is the
native language of around 88% of Slovenia's population, with
more than 92% of the Slovenian population speaking it in
their home environment. [41][42] Hungarian and Italian enjoy
the status of official languages in the ethnically mixed
regions along the Hungarian and Italian borders. Around
0.6% of the Slovenian population speaks Hungarian or Italian
as their native language.

A significant number of Slovenian population speak a variant

of Serbo-Croatian (Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian or
Montenegrin) as their native language. These are mostly
immigrants who moved to Slovenia from other former Bilingual Slovene-Italian
Yugoslav republics from the 1960s to the late 1980s, and edition of the Slovenian
their descendants. According to the 2001 census, they passport
represent around 7.8% of Slovenia's population. [41]
However, most of Serbo-Croatian speakers are assimilated to their Slovene-speaking
environment, as only 1% of the overall Slovenian population speaks only Serbo-Croatian
at home, with another 3.3% using a combination of Serbo-Croatian and Slovene.

Around 0.8% of the Slovenian population declared themselves as native speakers of

either Macedonian, Albanian or Romany in 2002. German, which used to be the largest
minority language in Slovenia prior to World War Two (around 4% of the population in
1921), is now the native language of only around 0.08% of the population, the majority of
whom are more than 60 years old.[42] Czech, which used to be the fourth largest minority
language in Slovenia prior to World War Two (after German, Hungarian and Serbo-
Croatian), is now the native language of few hundred Slovenian residents.

Slovene has many dialects, with different grades of mutual intelligibility. Linguists
generally agree that there are between 37 and 42 dialects. Although Slovene is a
dialectally highly differentiated language, only one Slovene dialect, Prekmurian, is used
as a regional language in Slovenia. According to the 1991 census, around 1.5% of the
Slovenian population (around 27% of Prekmurians) used it in their daily communication,
both in family and in public (although the vast majority of them considered Slovene as
their native language).[42]

Many Slovenes are multilingual. 92.3% of the population between the age of 25 and 65
speak at least one foreign language and around 71.8% of them speak at least two foreign
languages, which is the highest percentage in the European Union. [43] Around 40% is
able to hold a conversation in at least three foreign languages. [44] According to the
Eurobarometer survey,[45] the majority of Slovenes can speak English and Serbo-
Croatian. A reported 45% of Slovenes can speak German, which is one of the highest
percentages outside German speaking countries. Italian is widely spoken on the
Slovenian Coast and in some other areas of the Slovenian Littoral. Around 13% of
Slovenians can speak Italian, which is the third highest percentage in the European
Union, after Italy and Malta.

Religion
Main articles: Religion in Slovenia, Roman Catholicism in Slovenia, Islam in
Slovenia, and History of the Jews in Slovenia

Traditionally, Slovenes are predominantly Roman Catholic.

Before World War Two, 97% of Slovenes declared as
Roman Catholics, around 2.5% were Lutheran, and only
around 0.5% belonged to other denominations. Catholicism
was an important feature of both social an political life in pre-
Communist Slovenia. After 1945, the country underwent a
process of gradual but steady secularization. After a decade
of severe persecution of religions, the Communist regime
adopted a policy of relative tolerance towards the churches,
but limited their social functioning. After 1990, the Roman
Catholic Church regained some of its former influence, but
Slovenia remained a largely secularized society, where the
church affiliation is significantly lower than in neighbouring
countries.
The Basilica of the Virgin
According to the 2002 census, 57.8% of the population is Mary in Brezje, also
Roman Catholic. Like elsewhere in Europe, the affiliation to known as the Slovenian
Roman Catholicism in Slovenia is dropping: in 1991, there National Shrine, is one of
were 71.6% self-declared Catholics, which means a drop of the most important
Roman Catholic
more than 1 % annually. [46] A small number of Greek pilgrimage churches in
Catholics live in the White Carniola region.[47] Slovenia.

Despite a relatively small number of Protestants (less


Lutheran church in Bodonci in
the Prekmurje region
Confession in Slovenia, which is headed by a bishop with the seat in Murska Sobota. [48]
than 1% in 2002), the Protestant legacy in Slovenia is
important because of its historical significance, since
the bases of Slovene standard language and Slovene
literature were established by the Protestant
Reformation in the 16th century. Nowadays, a
significant Lutheran minority lives in the easternmost
region of Prekmurje, where they represent around a
fifth of the population. Significant Lutheran
communities also exist in Ljubljana, Maribor, Gornja
Radgona and Apače. The Slovene Lutherans are
united in the Evangelical Church of Augsburg

Besides these two Christian denominations, a small

Jewish community has also been historically present
in Slovenia. Despite the losses suffered during the
Holocaust, Judaism in Slovenia still numbers few
hundred adherents, mostly living in Ljubljana, where
the only synagogue in Slovenia operates.

Since the 1970s, Islam has become an important

Serbian Orthodox Church of
Saints Cyril and Methodius in
Ljubljana
religion in Slovenia. According to the 2001 census,
Muslims are the second largest religious
denomination in Slovenia after Roman Catholicism,
with around 2.3% of the population. Most Slovenian
Muslims are of Balkan origin, mostly from Bosnia,
Kosovo and Macedonia.

The third most important denomination in Slovenia, with around 2.2% of the population, is
Eastern Orthodoxy. The vast majority of Slovenian Eastern Orthodox Christians belong to
the Serbian Orthodox Church, while a minority belongs to the Macedonian and other
Orthodox churches.

In the 2002, around 10% of Slovenes declared themselves as atheists, while another
10% professed no specific denomination. Around 15% decided not answer the question
about their religious affiliation.

According to the more recent but 5 year old Eurobarometer Poll 2005, [49] 37% of
Slovenian citizens responded that "they believe there is a god", whereas 46% answered
that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 16% that "they do not
believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force".

Education
Main article: Education in Slovenia

The Slovenian education system consists of:

pre-school education
basic education (single structure of primary and
 lower secondary education)
(upper) secondary education: vocational and
technical education, secondary general
education
higher vocational education
higher education

Specific parts of the system:

adult education
music and dance education
special needs education
programmes in ethnically and linguistically
mixed areas
Universities in Ljubljana and
Currently there are three public universities in Maribor.
Slovenia:

University of Ljubljana
University of Maribor
University of Primorska

In addition, there is the private University of Nova Gorica.

The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD,

currently ranks Slovenia's education as the 12th best in the world and 4th best in the
European Union, being significantly higher than the OECD average. [50]

Children first enter primary schooling at about the age of 6 and finish at about the age of
14 (9 school years). Each group of children born in the same year form one grade or
class in primary school which lasts until the end of primary school. Each grade or year is
divided into 2 terms. Once or twice per term, children have holidays: Autumn, Christmas,
winter and May first holidays; each holiday is approximately one week long. At summer
time, school ends on 24 June (except in the last/ninth grade, where it ends one week
earlier), followed by a holiday of more than two months. The next school year starts on
the 1 September.

Immigration

Around 12.4% of the inhabitants of Slovenia were born abroad. [51] According to data
from 2008, there were around 100,000 non-EU citizens living in Slovenia, or around 5%
of the overall population of the country.[52] The highest number came from Bosnia-
Hercegovina, followed by immigrants from Serbia, Macedonia, Croatia and Kosovo. The
number of people migrating to Slovenia has been steadily rising from 1995; [53] in 2007,
Slovenia was one of the countries with the fastest growth of net migration rate in the
European Union. [53]

Culture
Main article: Culture of Slovenia
 See also: Music of Slovenia, Slovenian literature, and National symbols of Slovenia

First book in Slovene language was written by the

Protestant reformer Primož Trubar (1508–1586). It
was actually two books, Latin: Catechismus (a
catechism) and Abecedarium, which were published
in 1550 in Tübingen, Germany.

The central part of the country, namely Carniola

(which existed as a part of Austria-Hungary until the
early 20th century) was ethnographically and
historically well-described in the book The Glory of Opera house in Ljubljana before
the Duchy of Carniola (German: Die Ehre deß 2010 renovation
Herzogthums Crain, Slovene: Slava vojvodine
Kranjske), published in 1689 by Baron Janez Vajkard
Valvasor (1641–1693).

Some of Slovenia's greatest authors were the poets France

Prešeren (1800–1849), Oton Župančič, Srečko Kosovel,
Edvard Kocbek and Dane Zajc, as well as the writer and
playwright Ivan Cankar (1876–1918). Boris Pahor, Evald
Flisar, Drago Jančar, Alojz Rebula, Tomaž Šalamun and
Aleš Debeljak are some of the leading names of
contemporary Slovene literature.

The most important Slovene painters include Jurij Šubic and

Anton Ažbe in late 19th century. Ivana Kobilca, Rihard
Jakopič, Ivan Grohar worked in the beginning of 20th century
while Avgust Černigoj, Lojze Spacal, Anton Gojmir Kos, Riko
Debenjak, Marij Pregelj, exceptional Gabrijel Stupica, Janez
Monument to France Bernik worked mostly in the second part of 20. century.
Prešeren, considered Contemporary artists are Emerik Bernard, Metka Krašovec,
Slovenia's national poet, Ivo Prančič, Gustav Gnamuš, group IRWIN and Marko
in Ljubljana. Peljhan. Zoran Mušič, who worked in Paris and Venice,
obtained world fame.

Some important Slovene sculptors were Fran Berneker,

Lojze Dolinar, Zdenko Kalin, Slavko Tihec, Janez Boljka and
now Jakov Brdar and Mirsad Begić. The most famed
Slovene architects were Jože Plečnik and Max Fabiani and
later Edo Ravnikar and Milan Mihelič.

Slovenia is a homeland of numerous musicians and

composers, including Renaissance composer Jacobus
Gallus (1550–1591), who greatly influenced Central
European classical music, and the violin virtuoso Giuseppe
Tartini. In the 20th century, Bojan Adamič was a renowned
film music composer and Ivo Petrić (born 16 June 1931) is a
composer of European classical music.

Slavoj Žižek is a
Contemporary popular musicians have been Slavko Avsenik, Slavoj Žižek is a
Laibach, Vlado Kreslin, Pero Lovšin, Pankrti, Zoran Predin, Slovenian continental
Lačni Franz, New Swing Quartet, DJ Umek, Valentino philosopher and critical
Kanzyani, Siddharta, Big Foot Mama, Terrafolk, Katalena, theorist working in the
traditions of Hegelianism,
Magnifico and others. Marxism and Lacanian
psychoanalysis
Slovene cinema has more than a century-long tradition with
Karol Grossmann, Janko Ravnik, Ferdo Delak, France
Štiglic, Mirko Grobler, Igor Pretnar, France Kosmač, Jože Pogačnik, Dušan Povh, Matjaž
Klopčič, Jane Kavčič, Jože Gale, Boštjan Hladnik and Karpo Godina as its most
established filmmakers. Contemporary film directors Janez Burger, Jan Cvitkovič,
Damjan Kozole, Janez Lapajne and Maja Weiss are the most notable representatives of
the so-called "Renaissance of Slovenian cinema".

Famous Slovene scholars include the chemist and Nobel prize laureate Friderik - Fritz
Pregl, physicist Joseph Stefan, psychologist and anthropologist Anton Trstenjak,
philosophers Slavoj Žižek and Milan Komar, linguist Franc Miklošič, physician Marko
Anton Plenčič, mathematician Jurij Vega, sociologist Thomas Luckmann, theologian
Anton Strle and rocket engineer Herman Potočnik.

Cuisine
Main article: Slovenian cuisine

There is no such thing as a single, uniform, distinct

Slovenian cuisine. There are more than 40 distinct
regional cuisines in a country whose main
distinguishing feature is a great variety and diversity
of land formation, climate, wind movements, humidity,
terrain and history.

Slovenian cuisine is a mixture of three great regional

cuisines, the Central European cuisine (especially
Austrian and Hungarian), the Mediterranean cuisine
and the Balkan cuisine.
Prekmurska gibanica is a typical
pastry of the Prekmurje region in
eastern Slovenia.
The Kranjska klobasa, also
known as Kransky, is a typical
dish in central Slovenia. It is
Historically,
named after the historical
Slovenian cuisine Slovenian region of Carniola.
was divided into
town, farmhouse,
cottage, castle, parsonage and monastic cuisine. The
first Slovenian cookbook was published in Slovenian
language by Valentin Vodnik in 1799. Soups are a
relatively recent invention in Slovenian cuisine, but
there are over 100. Earlier there were various kinds of
porridge, stew and one-pot meals. The most common
meat soups are beef and chicken soup. Meat-based
soups are served only on Sundays and feast days;
more frequently in more prosperous country or city
households.
There is a variety of sausages in the Slovenian cuisine, the most famous of which is
Kranjska klobasa, also known in English as Kransky.

Honey is used to a considerable extent. Medenjaki, which come in different shapes are
honey cakes, which are most commonly heart-shaped and are often used as gifts.

Slovenian national dishes are Bujta repa, Ričet, Prekmurska gibanica, Potica, Ajdovi
žganci, Jota, Mineštra, Pršut, Kranjska klobasa and Žlikrofi.

Sport
Main article: Sport in Slovenia

A variety of other sports are played in Slovenia on

professional level, with important international
successes in handball, basketball, volleyball,
association football, ice hockey, rowing, swimming,
and athletics.

Prior to World War Two, gymnastics and fencing used

to be the most popular sports in Slovenia, with
champions like Leon Štukelj, Miroslav Cerar, Rudolf
International ski jumping Cvetko and Richard Verderber gaining Olympic
competition in Planica. Winter medals for Austria-Hungary and Yugoslavia.
sports are very popular in Gymnastics has a long tradition, as it was first
Slovenia. popularized in the mid-19th century by the influential
gymnastic Sokol and Orel associations, which were
not only sporting associations but also political and cultural movements. Association
football gained popularity in the interwar period. After 1945, basketball, handball and
volleyball became increasingly popular among Slovenes, and from the mid 1970s onward,
winter sports. Until recently, all those sports were more popular than association football,
which enjoyed a dubious social status, frequently associated with lower classes and
immigrants from other areas of former Yugoslavia. Since the first major successes of the
Slovenia national football team in the early 21st century, football has become increasingly
popular, as well.

Football in Slovenia is played domestically at the top level in

the Slovenian PrvaLiga (1. SNL), with 10 teams. Followed by
the 2.SNL, and the two-sectioned 3.SNL. The Slovenia
national football team is ranked 17 in the world and has
qualified for 2 FIFA World Cup's (2002, 2010), and 1 UEFA
European Football Championship (2000), in the past decade.
The national team qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup by
upsetting heavily favoured Russia in the qualifying
tournament's play-off stage. They came 3rd in their group
following a loss to England in the Group C. Slovene past and
current football stars include Srečko Katanec, Zlatko
Zahovič, Robert Koren, Milivoje Novakovič, Josip Iličič and
Zlatan Ljubijankič.
Petra Majdič, cross-
 Petra Majdič, cross-
Top-level Slovene Basketball is played in the Premier A country skiing bronze
Slovenian Basketball League, with 13 teams. The Slovenian winner in the 2010
national basketball team has qualified for 8 Eurobaskets, Olympics, as well as
including a 4th place finish in 2009, and 2 FIBA World Terry Fox Award winner
Championship appearances in 2006 and 2010. Famous for personal
Slovene basketball players who have played in the NBA achievements
include Marko Milič, Goran Dragić, Sasha Vujačić, Radoslav
Nesterović, and Beno Udrih.Slovenija will be the host of European basketball
championship in 2013.

The Slovenian Ice Hockey Championship, with 10 teams, is the highest level ice hockey
league in the country. The Slovenia men's national ice hockey team is currently ranked
17 in the world, and has qualified for 5 Ice Hockey World Championships. One of
Slovenia's most famous athletes is Anže Kopitar who plays for the Los Angeles Kings of
the National Hockey League, and his USD $47.6 million (€34.7 million) 7-year contract,
is the greatest amount by any Slovene athlete. Other famous Slovene hockey players
include; Robert Kristan, Jan Muršak, and Marcel Rodman.

Winter sports are among the most popular sport events in Slovenia. Past and current
Slovenian Alpine ski champions include Mateja Svet, Bojan Križaj, Jure Franko, Rok
Petrovič, Jure Košir, and Tina Maze. Ski jumping is also very popular, with champions
like Franci Petek, Primož Ulaga, Primož Peterka and Peter Žonta.

Individual sports are also very popular in Slovenia, and have been traditionally considered
more characteristically Slovenian than team sports. Mountaineering is one of the most
widespread sporting activities in Slovenia. Many Slovene mountaineers have gained an
international reputation, including Tomo Česen, Davo Karničar and Tomaž Humar. The
tradition of Slovene mountaineering is on display in the Slovenian Alpine Museum in
Mojstrana.

Many Slovenians are active in extreme sports. Some of the most famous of them are
ultramaraton swimmer Martin Strel and Davo Karničar; the first person to ski down Mount
Everest.

See also
Outline of Slovenia
List of cities in Slovenia

References
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External links
Government

Slovenia.si (http://www.slovenia.si/) . The main national access point to information

 about Slovenia.
The Republic of Slovenia (http://www.gov.si/) . Government links.
Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (http://www.stat.si/eng/)

General information

Slovenia (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/si.html)
entry at The World Factbook
Slovenia (http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/for/slovenia.htm) from UCB
Libraries GovPubs
Slovenia (http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/Slovenia/) at the Open Directory
Project
Wikimedia Atlas of Slovenia
"Facts About Slovenia" (http://www.ukom.gov.si/eng/slovenia/publications/facts-
book) , publication from the Slovenian Government Communication Office. pdf. In
English, Spanish, French, German and Russian.

Travel

The Slovenian Tourist portal (http://www.slovenia.info/) . Published by the Slovenian

Tourist Board.
Slovenia travel guide from Wikitravel

News

Slovenian Press Agency (http://www.sta.si/en/index.php?s=a) provides news in

English.

Other

Slovenia – Landmarks (http://www.mojaslovenija.si/) . A site featuring virtual reality

panoramas of various spots in the country.
Slovenia: a geographical overview (http://zgds.zrc-sazu.si/en/Slovenia.htm) .
Published by the Association of the Geographical Societies of Slovenia.
Sistory.si (http://www.sistory.si/english.html) – an education and research portal of
Slovene historiography.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovenia"
Categories: Slovenia | European countries | Member states of the European Union |
Alpine countries | Countries of the Mediterranean Sea | Slavic countries | Liberal
democracies | States and territories established in 1991 | Member states of the Union for
the Mediterranean | Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization

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