View source for Slovakia

{{Short description|Country in Central Europe}}
{{Redirect|Slovak Republic|the First Slovak Republic|Slovak Republic (1939–1945)}}
{{Distinguish|Slavonia|Slovenia}}
{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{pp-move|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = Slovak Republic
| native_name            = {{native name|sk|Slovenská republika}}
| common_name            = Slovakia
| image_flag             = Flag of Slovakia.svg
| image_coat             = Coat of arms of Slovakia.svg
| coa_size               = 70
| other_symbol           = <div style="padding:0.3em;">
[[File:Seal of the Slovak Republic.png|85px|]]</div>
| other_symbol_type      = [[National Seal of Slovakia|National seal]]
| image_map              = {{Switcher|[[File:Slovakia on the globe (Europe centered).svg|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Show globe|[[File:EU-Slovakia.svg|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Show map of Europe|default=2}}
| map_caption            = {{map caption |location_color=dark green |region=Europe |region_color=dark grey |subregion=the [[European Union]] |subregion_color=green |legend=EU-Slovakia.svg}}
| national_anthem        = {{native phrase|sk|[[Nad Tatrou sa blýska]]|nolink=yes}}<br />"Lightning Over the [[Tatra Mountains|Tatras]]"
<br /><div style="display:inline-block;margin-top:0.4em;">[[File:Lightning_over_the_Tatras.ogg]]</div>
| languages_type         = [[Official language]]
| languages              = [[Slovak language|Slovak]]
| languages2_type        = Regional and minority languages<ref>{{cite news|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/cabinet-approves-russian-and-serbian-as-minority-languages|title=Cabinet approves Russian and Serbian as minority languages|work=The Slovak Spectator|date=18 November 2015|access-date=20 August 2025}}</ref>
| languages2             = [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Croatian language|Croatian]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[German language|German]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Romani language|Romani]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Ruthenian language|Ruthenian]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]], [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]
| demonym                = [[Slovaks|Slovak]]
| ethnic_groups          = {{unbulleted list
 |88.6% [[Slovaks]]
 |8.2% [[Hungarians in Slovakia|Hungarians]]
 |1.3% [[Romani people in Slovakia|Romani]]
 |1.9% others
}}
| ethnic_groups_year     = 2021
| capital                = [[Bratislava]]
| coordinates            = {{Coord|48|9|N|17|7|E|type:city}}
| membership_type =
| membership =
| largest_city           = capital
| government_type        = [[Unitary parliamentary republic]]
| leader_title1          = [[President of Slovakia|President]]
| leader_name1           = [[Peter Pellegrini]]
| leader_title2          = [[Prime Minister of Slovakia|Prime Minister]]
| leader_name2           = [[Robert Fico]]
| leader_title3          = [[List of speakers of Slovak parliaments|Speaker of the National Council]]
| leader_name3           = [[Richard Raši]]
| legislature            = [[National Council of Slovakia|National Council]]
| area_rank              = 127th
| area_km2               = 49,035 <!--http://www.statistics.sk/mosmis/eng/run.html-->
| area_sq_mi             = 18,932
| percent_water          = 0.72 (2015)<ref>{{cite web|title=Surface water and surface water change|access-date=11 October 2020|publisher=Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)|url=https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=SURFACE_WATER|archive-date=24 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210324133453/https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=SURFACE_WATER|url-status=live}}</ref>
| population_estimate    = {{DecreaseNeutral}} 5,413,813<ref>{{cite web |url= https://slovak.statistics.sk/wps/portal/ext/products/informationmessages/inf_sprava_detail/!ut/p/z1/tVJNl5owFP0tXbgMeSEBQnfRjoBaO2Idx2x6ABOlCjhAsf77hnNmY9vR6aJvkY-Te1_eu-9iiZ-xLJMu3yVtXpXJ0dw30v228CI-HBIBMJxRiCbT5Twcje1g5eD1NYDP4weIvorHIJ4wAszB8up5-GRD5M1jMl0sgilhr_xRIELmzQD4LHAgEuEq9heUgqDv48MbIeB9_BsAebv_JyyxzMr21O7xpkqbZI9UifJSo-TQDsAcqrowanalQs2pTrrLALpGtQezuxq0wzggCoQhxrY-SrifoUxT6vpbrbTj9elPWb7FG5J6Wrk2RUz3CyMpSsHRiECSZoqAhtT9vZ0_65W31Vr3_90ZyL0c8qbmK-8VMF4-2sJnwehT_GVsPDOy-XLm2hC4dwBA8DysCoWXqsQTLPO0sM5ZYYEFQJntc58y7oLrOj7tDSzKlPIdlrXSqla19aM2vt637an5OIABnM9na1dVu6OysqoYwN8o-6pp8fM1Em-M1t6bWhMPr7tcnfGq7B1wxMt_HGUIfXO3p2lKzb-_vEhhPFiVrfppqvwfJjwVKxMFpxd0iB-0uNBjV4xS_rkRH34B3ZOU2Q!!/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/ |title=Stock of population in the SR on 30 June 2025 |publisher=Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic |website=slovak.statistics.sk |date=28 August 2025 |access-date=28 August 2025}}</ref>
| population_estimate_rank = 120th
| population_estimate_year = 30 June 2025
| population_census      = {{IncreaseNeutral}} 5,449,270<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.scitanie.sk/en |title=2021 Population and Housing Census |publisher=Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic |website=scitanie.sk |date=20 December 2021 |access-date=19 September 2024 }}</ref>
| population_census_rank = 
| population_census_year = 2021
| population_density_km2 = 110
| population_density_sq_mi = 280
| population_density_rank = 103rd
| GDP_PPP                = {{increase}} $256.710 billion<ref name="https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/SVK">{{cite web |url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2024/October/weo-report?c=936,&s=NGDPD,PPPGDP,NGDPDPC,PPPPC,&sy=2022&ey=2029&ssm=0&scsm=1&scc=0&ssd=1&ssc=0&sic=0&sort=country&ds=.&br=1 |title=World Economic Outlook Database, October 2024 Edition. (Slovakia) |publisher=[[International Monetary Fund]] |website=www.imf.org |date=22 October 2024 |access-date=29 November 2024}}</ref>
| GDP_PPP_year           = 2025
| GDP_PPP_rank           = 70th
| GDP_PPP_per_capita     = {{increase}} $47,440<ref name="https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/SVK" />
| GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank = 46th
| GDP_nominal            = {{increase}} $152.480 billion<ref name="https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/SVK" />
| GDP_nominal_year       = 2025
| GDP_nominal_rank       = 61st
| GDP_nominal_per_capita = {{increase}} $28,180<ref name="https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/SVK" />
| GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank = 44th
| sovereignty_type       = Establishment history
| established_event1     = [[Czechoslovak declaration of independence|Independence]] from <br/>[[Austria-Hungary]]<br/>([[First Czechoslovak Republic]])
| established_date1      = 28 October 1918
| established_event2     = [[Treaty of Trianon]]
| established_date2      = 4 June 1920
| established_event3     = [[Second Czechoslovak Republic]]
| established_date3      = 30 September 1938
| established_event4     = [[Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|First Slovak Republic]]
| established_date4      = 14 March 1939
| established_event5     = [[Third Czechoslovak Republic]]
| established_date5      = 24 October 1945
| established_event6     = [[Fourth Czechoslovak Republic]]
| established_date6      = 25 February 1948
| established_event7     = [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic]]
| established_date7      = 11 July 1960
| established_event8     = [[Slovak Socialist Republic]] (within Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, change of unitary Czechoslovak state into a [[Constitutional Act on the Czechoslovak Federation|federation]])
| established_date8      = 1 January 1969
| established_event9     = [[Slovak Socialist Republic|Slovak Republic]] (change of name within established [[Czech and Slovak Federative Republic]])
| established_date9      = 1 March 1990
| established_event10    = [[Dissolution of Czechoslovakia|Dissolution]] of<br/>[[Czech and Slovak Federative Republic|Czechoslovakia]]
| established_date10     = 1 January 1993
| Gini_year              = 2022
| Gini_change            = decrease <!--increase/decrease/steady-->
| Gini                   = 21.2 <!--number only-->
| Gini_ref               =<ref name=eurogini>{{cite web |url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tessi190/default/table?lang=en |title=Gini coefficient of equivalised disposable income – EU-SILC survey |publisher=[[Eurostat]] |website=ec.europa.eu |access-date=25 November 2023 |archive-date=9 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009091832/https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tessi190/default/table?lang=en |url-status=live }}</ref>
| Gini_rank              = 
| HDI_year               = 2023<!-- Please use the year to which the data refers, not the publication year-->
| HDI_change             = increase<!--increase/decrease/steady-->
| HDI                    = 0.880 <!--number only-->
| HDI_ref                =<ref name="UNHDR">{{Cite web |date=6 May 2025 |title=Human Development Report 2025 |url=https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2025reporten.pdf|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250506051232/https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/global-report-document/hdr2025reporten.pdf |archive-date=6 May 2025 |access-date=6 May 2025 |publisher=[[United Nations Development Programme]] |language=en}}</ref>
| HDI_rank               = 44th
| currency               = [[Euro]] ([[Euro sign|€]])
| currency_code          = EUR
| country_code           = 
| time_zone              = [[Central European Time|CET]]
| utc_offset             = +1
| time_zone_DST          = [[Central European Summer Time|CEST]]
| utc_offset_DST         = +2
| date_format            = d. m. yyyy
| drives_on              = right
| patron_saint           = [[Saints Cyril and Methodius]]<br />[[Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows|Our Lady of Sorrows]]
| calling_code           = [[Telephone numbers in Slovakia|+421]]
| cctld                  = [[.sk]] and [[.eu]]
| religion               = {{ublist |item_style=white-space:nowrap; |
{{Tree list}}
* 68.8% [[Christianity]]
** 59.8% [[Catholic Church in Slovakia|Catholicism]]
** 7.6% [[Protestantism]]
** 1.4% other [[List of Christian denominations|Christian]]
{{Tree list/end}}
|23.8% [[Irreligion|no religion]] |0.9% other|6.5% unspecified}}
| religion_year          = 2021
| religion_ref           =<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scitanie.sk/k-rimskokatolickemu-vyznaniu-sa-prihlasilo-56-obyvateov|title=SODB2021 – K rímskokatolíckemu vyznaniu sa prihlásilo 56 % obyvateľov|access-date=20 January 2022|archive-date=20 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220520014037/https://www.scitanie.sk/k-rimskokatolickemu-vyznaniu-sa-prihlasilo-56-obyvateov}}</ref>
| ethnic_groups_ref      = {{efn|excluding the unspecified population which counts 295,558 people or 5.4%}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scitanie.sk/en/population/basic-results/structure-of-population-by-ethnicity/SR/SK0/SR|title=SODB2021 – Population – Basic results|access-date=23 January 2022|archive-date=4 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104160329/https://www.scitanie.sk/en/population/basic-results/structure-of-population-by-ethnicity/SR/SK0/SR|url-status=live}}</ref>
| official_website       = [https://beta.slovensko.sk/ slovensko.sk]
}}

'''Slovakia''',{{efn|{{IPAc-en|audio=en-us-Slovakia.ogg|s|l|oʊ|ˈ|v|æ|k|i|ə|,_|-|ˈ|v|ɑː|k|-}}<ref>{{citation |last=Wells |first=John C. |year=2008 |title=Longman Pronunciation Dictionary |edition=3rd |publisher=Longman |isbn=978-1-4058-8118-0}}</ref><ref>{{citation |last=Roach |first=Peter |year=2011 |title=Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary |edition=18th |place=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-15253-2}}</ref> {{langx|sk|Slovensko}} {{IPA|sk|ˈslɔʋenskɔ||Sk-Slovensko.ogg}}}} officially the '''Slovak Republic''',{{efn|{{langx|sk|Slovenská republika|links=no}} {{IPA|sk|ˈslɔʋenskaː ˈrepublika||Sk-Slovenská republika.ogg}}}} is a [[landlocked country]] in [[Central Europe]]. It is bordered by [[Poland]] to the north, [[Ukraine]] to the east, [[Hungary]] to the south, [[Austria]] to the west, and the [[Czech Republic]] to the northwest. Slovakia's mostly mountainous territory spans about {{cvt|49,000|km2|}}, hosting a population exceeding 5.4 million. The capital and [[List of cities and towns in Slovakia|largest city]] is [[Bratislava]], while the second largest city is [[Košice]].

The [[Slavs]] arrived in the territory of the present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries. From the late 6th century, parts of modern Slovakia were incorporated into the [[Pannonian Avars|Avar Khaghanate]]. In the 7th century, the Slavs played a significant role in the creation of [[Samo's Empire]]. When the Avar Khaghanate dissolved in the 9th century, the Slavs established the [[Principality of Nitra]] before it was annexed by the [[Great Moravia|Principality of Moravia]], which later became [[Great Moravia]]. When Great Moravia fell in the 10th century, the territory was integrated into the [[Principality of Hungary]] at the end of the 9th century, which later became the [[Kingdom of Hungary]] in 1000.<ref>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Russian & Slavic myth and legend |last=Dixon-Kennedy |first=Mike |year=1998 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-130-4 |page=375 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eD5AkdM83iIC&pg=PA57 |access-date=23 April 2009}}</ref> In 1241 and 1242, after the [[Mongol invasion of Europe]], much of the territory was destroyed, but was recovered largely thanks to Hungarian king [[Béla IV of Hungary|Béla IV]]. During the 16th and 17th centuries, southern portions of present-day Slovakia were incorporated into provinces of the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref name=":1">{{Citation |last=Pirický |first=Gabriel |title=The Legacy of the Ottoman (Turkish) Age in Slovakia in the 21st Century |date=2023-03-03 |work=Europe's Islamic Legacy: 1900 to the Present |pages=29–47 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004510722/BP000010.xml |access-date=2024-11-01 |publisher=Brill |language=en |doi=10.1163/9789004510722_004 |isbn=978-90-04-51072-2|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":2" /> The Ottoman-controlled areas were ceded to the Habsburgs by the turn of the 18th century. The Hungarian declaration of [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848|independence]] in 1848 was followed in the same year by the [[Slovak Uprising of 1848–49|Slovak Uprising]] through the establishment of the [[Slovak National Council (1848–1849)|Slovak National Council]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.bl.uk/european/2015/10/a-life-for-a-language.html|title=A life for a language: Ľudovít Štúr (1815–54) and the Slovak nation|date=28 October 2015|website=British Library}}</ref> While the uprising did not achieve its aim, it played an important role in cementing a Slovak national identity. The Hungarian wars of independence eventually resulted in a compromise that established the [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian Empire]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Austria-Hungary|title=Austria-Hungary, HISTORICAL EMPIRE, EUROPE|date=6 June 2017|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|access-date=6 June 2017}}</ref>

During [[World War I]], the [[Czechoslovak National Council]] successfully fought for [[Czechoslovak declaration of independence|independence]] amidst the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the state of [[First Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovakia]] was proclaimed in 1918. The borders were set by the [[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)|Treaty of Saint Germain]] in 1919 and by the [[Treaty of Trianon]] in 1920 Czechoslovakia incorporated the territory of present-day Slovakia which was entirely part of the [[Kingdom of Hungary]]. In the lead up to [[World War II]], local fascist parties gradually came to power in the Slovak lands, and the first [[Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|Slovak Republic]] was established in 1939 as a [[one-party state|one-party]] [[Clerical fascism|clerical fascist]] [[client state]] under the control of [[Nazi Germany]]. In 1940, the country joined the [[Axis powers|Axis]] when its leaders signed the [[Tripartite Pact]]. [[Third Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovakia]] was re-established after the country's [[Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945)#Liberation of Czechoslovakia|liberation]] at the end of the war in 1945. Following the [[1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état|Soviet-backed coup of 1948]], Czechoslovakia became a [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|communist state]] within the [[Eastern Bloc]], a [[satellite state]] of the [[Soviet Union]] behind the [[Iron Curtain]] and member of the [[Warsaw Pact]]. Attempts to [[Socialism with a human face|liberalise communism]] culminated in the [[Prague Spring]], which was suppressed by the [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia]] in August 1968. In 1989, the [[Velvet Revolution]] peacefully ended Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Slovakia became an independent [[Democracy|democratic]] state on 1 January 1993 after the peaceful dissolution of [[Czech and Slovak Federative Republic|Czechoslovakia]], sometimes referred to as the [[Velvet Divorce]].

Slovakia is a [[developed country]] with an advanced [[World Bank high-income economy|high-income economy]]. The country maintains a combination of a [[market economy]] with a comprehensive [[Welfare spending|social security]] system, providing citizens with [[universal health care]], [[free education]], one of the [[Retirement in Europe|lowest retirement age]] in Europe and one of the longest paid [[parental leave]]s in the [[OECD]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2016/10/daily-chart-10|title=Which countries are most generous to new parents?|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=29 April 2017|archive-date=4 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181104040649/https://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2016/10/daily-chart-10|url-status=live}}</ref> Slovakia is a member of the [[European Union]], the [[eurozone]], the [[Schengen Area]], the [[United Nations]], [[NATO]], [[CERN]], the OECD, the [[World Trade Organization|WTO]], the [[Council of Europe]], the [[Visegrád Group]], and the [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe|OSCE]]. Slovakia is also home to [[List of World Heritage Sites in Slovakia|eight]] [[UNESCO]] World Heritage Sites. The world's largest per-capita car producer, Slovakia manufactured a total of 1.08 million cars in 2023, representing 44% of its total industrial output.<ref name="spectator.sme.sk">{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/business/c/car-production-returns-to-pre-covid-figures-in-slovakia|title=Car production returns to pre-Covid figures in Slovakia|date=11 January 2024|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
{{see also|Slovaks#Name}}

Slovakia's name means the "Land of the [[Slavs]]" ({{lang|sk|[[Slovensko]]}} in [[Slovak language|Slovak]] stemming from the older form {{lang|sla|Sloven/Slovienin}}). As such, it is a cognate of the words [[Slovenia]] and [[Slavonia]]. In medieval Latin, German, and even some Slavic sources, the same name has often been used for Slovaks, Slovenes, Slavonians, and Slavs in general. According to one of the theories, a new form of national name formed for the ancestors of the Slovaks between the 13th and 14th century, possibly due to foreign influence; the [[Czech language|Czech]] word {{lang|cs|Slovák}} (in medieval sources from 1291 onward).<ref name="ReferenceA">UHLÁR, V.: O pôvode názvov Slovák, Slovensko a slovenčina</ref> This form slowly replaced the name for the male members of the community, but the female name ({{lang|sk|Slovenka}}), reference to the lands inhabited ({{lang|sk|Slovensko}}) and the name of the language ({{lang|sk|slovenčina}}) all remained the same, with their base in the older form (compare to Slovenian counterparts). Most foreign translations tend to stem from this newer form (''Slovakia'' in English, {{lang|de|Slowakei}} in German, {{lang|fr|Slovaquie}} in French, etc.).

In medieval Latin sources, terms: {{lang|la-x-medieval|Slavus}}, {{lang|la-x-medieval|Slavonia}}, or {{lang|la-x-medieval|Slavorum}} (and more variants, from as early as 1029)<ref name="ReferenceA"/> have been used. In German sources, names for the Slovak lands were {{lang|de|Windenland}} or {{lang|de|Windische Lande}} (early 15th century),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Papasonov |first1=Mária |last2=Šmahel |first2=František |last3=Dvořáková |first3=Daniela |first4=Ulrich |last4=Richental |title=Kostnická kronika. |location=Budmerice |publisher=Vydavateľstvo Rak |year=2009 |isbn=978-80-85501-42-1}}.</ref> with the forms ''Slovakia'' and {{lang|de|Schlowakei}} starting to appear in the 16th century.<ref>Uličný, Ferdinand (2014). "Toponymum Slovensko – pôvod a obsah názvu" [The name Slovakia (Slovensko) – its origin and content]. Historický časopis. Historický ústav SAV (3): 548. ISSN 0018-2575.</ref> The present Slovak form {{lang|sk|Slovensko}} is first attested in the year 1675.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.juls.savba.sk/ediela/ks/1992/8/ks1992-8.pdf |title=Výrazová a významová diferenciácia a vznik nových pomenovaní |work=Kultúra Slova |access-date=19 August 2021 |archive-date=4 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804154029/https://www.juls.savba.sk/ediela/ks/1992/8/ks1992-8.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

== History ==
{{Main|History of Slovakia}}
[[File:Moravianska venusa.jpg|thumb|left|A [[Moravany Venus|Venus]] from [[Moravany nad Váhom]], which dates back to 22,800 BC|245x245px]]
The oldest surviving human artefacts from Slovakia are found near [[Nové Mesto nad Váhom]] and are dated at 270,000&nbsp;BCE, in the [[Lower Paleolithic|Early Paleolithic]] era. These ancient tools, made by the [[Clactonian]] technique, bear witness to the ancient habitation of Slovakia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Neruda |first1=Petr |last2=Kaminská |first2=L.ubomira |title=Neanderthals at Bojnice in the Context of Central Europe |year=2013 |isbn=978-80-7028-407-0 |page=21 |publisher=Moravské Zemské Muzeum |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272944564 |access-date=19 November 2021}}</ref>

Other [[stone tool]]s from the [[Middle Paleolithic]] era (200,000–80,000&nbsp;BCE) come from the Prévôt (Prepoštská) cave in [[Bojnice]] and from other nearby sites.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://muzeumpraveku.sk/ |title=Museum of Prehistoric |last=Museum of Prehistoric Prepoštská Cave |work=muzeumpraveku.sk |year=2011 |access-date=25 November 2011 |archive-date=1 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201025837/https://muzeumpraveku.sk/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The most important discovery from that era is a [[Neanderthal]] [[human skull|cranium]] (c. 200,000 BCE), discovered near [[Gánovce]], a village in northern Slovakia.

Archaeologists have found prehistoric human skeletons in the region, as well as numerous objects and vestiges of the [[Gravettian]] culture, principally in the river valleys of [[Nitra (river)|Nitra]], [[Hron]], [[Ipeľ]], [[Váh]] and as far as the city of [[Žilina]], and near the foot of the [[Vihorlat Mountains|Vihorlat]], Inovec, and [[Tribeč]] mountains, as well as in the [[Myjava]] Mountains. The most well-known finds include the oldest female statue made of [[mammoth]] bone (22,800&nbsp;BCE), the famous [[Venus of Moravany]]. The statue was found in the 1940s in [[Moravany nad Váhom]] near [[Piešťany]]. Numerous necklaces made of shells from Cypraca thermophile [[gastropoda|gastropods]] of the [[Tertiary (period)|Tertiary]] period have come from the sites of Zákovská, Podkovice, Hubina, and Radošina. These findings provide the most ancient evidence of commercial exchanges carried out between the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] and [[Central Europe]].

=== Bronze Age ===
During the [[Bronze Age]], the geographical territory of modern-day Slovakia went through three stages of development, stretching from 2000 to 800&nbsp;BCE. <!--I am not sure what the following sentences mean, so I put them into this comment: To this, their period belongs the well-known funeral culture of the [[Little Carpathians|Carpathians]] and that of the middle [[Danube]]. During the later Neolithic Age a considerable growth in cultural regions took place in Slovakia.--> Major cultural, economic, and political development can be attributed to the significant growth in production of copper, especially in central Slovakia (for example in [[Špania Dolina]]) and northwest Slovakia. [[Copper]] became a stable source of prosperity for the local population.

After the disappearance of the [[Čakany]] and [[Velatice]] cultures, the [[Lusatian culture|Lusatian]] people expanded building of strong and complex fortifications, with the large permanent buildings and administrative centres. Excavations of Lusatian [[Hillfort|hill forts]] document the substantial development of trade and agriculture at that period. The richness and diversity of tombs increased considerably. The inhabitants of the area manufactured arms, shields, jewellery, dishes, and statues.

=== Iron Age ===
[[File:Boii Biatec 1st. cen BC 2940416.jpg|thumb|[[Biatec]], presumably a king, who appeared on the Celtic coins minted by the [[Boii]] at the current location of Bratislava, 1st century B.C.]]

==== Hallstatt Period ====
The arrival of tribes from [[Thrace]] disrupted the people of the Kalenderberg culture, who lived in the hamlets located on the plain ([[Sereď]]) and in the hill forts like Molpír, near [[Smolenice]], in the [[Little Carpathians]]. During Hallstatt times, monumental burial mounds were erected in western Slovakia, with princely equipment consisting of richly decorated vessels, ornaments and decorations. The burial rites consisted entirely of cremation. Common people were buried in flat urnfield cemeteries.

A special role was given to weaving and the production of textiles. The local power of the "Princes" of the [[Hallstatt culture|Hallstatt period]] disappeared in Slovakia during the century before the middle of first millennium BCE, after strife between the [[Scythians|Scytho]]-Thracian people and locals, resulting in abandonment of the old hill-forts. Relatively depopulated areas soon caught the interest of emerging [[Celts|Celtic]] tribes, who advanced from the south towards the north, following the Slovak rivers, peacefully integrating into the remnants of the local population.

==== La Tène Period ====
From around 500&nbsp;BCE, the territory of modern-day Slovakia was settled by [[Celt]]s, who built powerful ''[[oppida]]'' on the sites of modern-day [[Bratislava]] and [[Devín]]. [[Biatec]]s, [[silver coin]]s with inscriptions in the Latin alphabet, represent the first known use of writing in Slovakia. At the northern regions, remnants of the local population of Lusatian origin, together with Celtic and later Dacian influence, gave rise to the unique [[Púchov culture]], with advanced crafts and iron-working, many hill-forts and fortified settlements of central type with the coinage of the "Velkobysterecky" type (no inscriptions, with a horse on one side and a head on the other). This culture is often connected with the Celtic tribe mentioned in Roman sources as [[Cotini]].

==== Roman Period ====
[[File:Trencin-Roman2.JPG|thumb|A Roman inscription at the castle hill of [[Trenčín]] (178–179 AD)]]
From 2&nbsp;[[Common Era|CE]], the expanding [[Roman Empire]] established and maintained a series of outposts around and just south of the [[Danube]], the largest of which were known as [[Carnuntum]] (whose remains are on the main road halfway between [[Vienna]] and [[Bratislava]]) and [[Brigetio]] (present-day [[Szőny]] at the Slovak-Hungarian border). Such Roman border settlements were built on the present area of [[Rusovce]], currently a suburb of [[Bratislava]]. The military fort was surrounded by a civilian [[vicus]] and several farms of the [[villa rustica]] type. The name of this settlement was [[Gerulata]]. The military fort had an auxiliary cavalry unit, approximately 300 horses strong, modelled after the [[Cananefates]]. The remains of Roman buildings have also survived in [[Stupava, Slovakia|Stupava]], [[Devín Castle]], Bratislava Castle Hill, and the Bratislava-[[Dúbravka, Bratislava|Dúbravka]] suburb.

Near the northernmost line of the Roman hinterlands, the [[Limes Romanus]], there existed the winter camp of [[Trenčín|Laugaricio]] (modern-day [[Trenčín]]) where the Auxiliary of Legion&nbsp;II fought and prevailed in a decisive battle over the Germanic [[Quadi]] tribe in 179&nbsp;CE during the [[Marcomannic Wars]]. The Kingdom of [[Vannius]], a kingdom founded by the [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] [[Suebi]] tribes of [[Quadi]] and [[Marcomanni]], as well as several small Germanic and [[List of Celtic tribes|Celtic tribes]], including the Osi and [[Cotini]], existed in western and central Slovakia from 8–6&nbsp;BCE to 179&nbsp;CE.

=== Great invasions from the fourth to seventh centuries ===
In the second and third centuries CE, the [[Huns]] began to leave the [[Eurasian Steppe|Central Asian steppes]]. They crossed the Danube in 377&nbsp;CE and occupied [[Pannonia]], which they used for 75&nbsp;years as their base for launching looting-raids into Western Europe. However, [[Attila]]'s death in 453 brought about the disappearance of the [[Huns|Hunnic empire]]. In 568, a Turko-Mongol tribal confederacy, the [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]], conducted its invasion into the Middle Danube region. The Avars occupied the lowlands of the [[Pannonian Plain]] and established an empire dominating the [[Pannonian Basin|Carpathian Basin]].

In [[623]], the [[Early Slavs|Slavic population]] living in the western parts of Pannonia seceded from their empire after a revolution led by [[Samo]], a Frankish merchant.<ref name="Történeti Kronológia">{{cite book|last=Benda|first=Kálmán|title=Magyarország történeti kronológiája ''("The Historical Chronology of Hungary")''|publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó|year=1981|location=Budapest|page=44|isbn=963-05-2661-1}}</ref> After 626, the Avar power started a gradual decline<ref>Kristó, p.30–31</ref> but its reign lasted to 804.

=== Avars ===
In 568, the [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]], under Khagan [[Bayan I]] established an empire in the [[Pannonian Basin|Carpathian Basin]] that lasted for 250 years.<ref name="Hun Avar Hungarian Genetics 2019">{{Cite journal |last1=Neparáczki |first1=Endre |last2=Maróti |first2=Zoltán |last3=Kalmár |first3=Tibor |last4=Maár |first4=Kitti |last5=Nagy |first5=István |last6=Latinovics |first6=Dóra |last7=Kustár |first7=Ágnes |last8=Pálfi |first8=György |last9=Molnár |first9=Erika |last10=Marcsik |first10=Antónia |last11=Balogh |first11=Csilla |last12=Lőrinczy |first12=Gábor |last13=Gál |first13=Szilárd Sándor |last14=Tomka |first14=Péter |last15=Kovacsóczy |first15=Bernadett |date=12 November 2019 |title=Y-chromosome haplogroups from Hun, Avar and conquering Hungarian period nomadic people of the Carpathian Basin |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=16569 |bibcode=2019NatSR...916569N |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-53105-5 |pmc=6851379 |pmid=31719606 |last16=Kovács |first16=László |last17=Raskó |first17=István |last18=Török |first18=Tibor}}</ref>

=== Slavic states ===
The [[Slavs|Slavic]] tribes settled in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the fifth century. Western Slovakia was the centre of [[Samo]]'s empire in the seventh century. A Slavic state known as the [[Principality of Nitra]] arose in the eighth century and its ruler [[Pribina]] had the first known Christian church of the territory of present-day Slovakia consecrated by 828. Together with neighbouring [[Moravia]], the principality formed the core of the [[Great Moravia]]n Empire from 833. The high point of this Slavonic empire came with the arrival of [[Saints Cyril and Methodius]] in 863, during the reign of [[Duke]] [[Rastislav of Moravia|Rastislav]], and the territorial expansion under [[King]] [[Svätopluk I]].

==== Great Moravia (830–before 907) ====
{{Main|Great Moravia}}

[[File:Cyril a metod zilina.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.7|A statue of [[Saints Cyril and Methodius|Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius]] in [[Žilina]]. In 863, they introduced [[Christianity]] to what is now Slovakia.]]

Great Moravia arose around 830 when [[Mojmir I of Moravia|Mojmír I]] unified the [[Slavs|Slavic]] tribes settled north of the [[Danube]] and extended the Moravian supremacy over them.<ref>'Europe', p.360</ref> When Mojmír I endeavoured to secede from the supremacy of the king of [[East Francia]] in 846, King [[Louis the German]] deposed him and assisted Mojmír's nephew [[Rastislav of Moravia|Rastislav]] (846–870) in acquiring the throne.<ref name="Korai Magyar Történeti Lexikon">{{cite book|last=Kristó|first=Gyula|title=Korai Magyar Történeti Lexikon (9–14. század) |trans-title=Encyclopedia of Early Hungarian History – 9th–14th centuries |publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó|year=1994|location=Budapest|page=467|isbn=963-05-6722-9}}</ref> The new monarch pursued an independent policy: after stopping a Frankish attack in 855, he also sought to weaken the influence of Frankish priests preaching in his realm. [[Rastislav of Moravia|Duke Rastislav]] asked the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine Emperor]] [[Michael III]] to send teachers who would interpret Christianity in the Slavic vernacular.

In 862, Prince [[Rastislav of Moravia]] rebelled against the [[Franks]], and after hiring [[Hungarians|Hungarian]] troops, won his independence; this was the first time that Hungarians expeditionary troops entered the [[Pannonian Basin|Carpathian Basin]].<ref name=":9">{{cite book |last=Bóna |first=István |url= |title=History of Transylvania Volume I. From the Beginnings to 1606 – II. From Dacia to Erdőelve: Transylvania in the Period of the Great Migrations (271–896) – 7. Transylvania in the Period of the Hungarian Conquest and Foundation of a State |publisher=Columbia University Press, (The Hungarian original by Institute of History Of The Hungarian Academy of Sciences) |year=2001 |isbn=0-88033-479-7 |location=New York |pages= |language=English |chapter=Conquest, Settlement, and Raids |chapter-url=https://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/52.html}}</ref><ref>Kosáry Domokos, ''Bevezetés a magyar történelem forrásaiba és irodalmába 1'', p. 29</ref>

On Rastislav's request, two brothers, Byzantine officials and missionaries [[Saints Cyril and Methodius]] came in 863. Cyril developed the [[Glagolitic alphabet|first Slavic alphabet]] and translated the Gospel into the [[Old Church Slavonic]] language. Rastislav was also preoccupied with the security and administration of his state. Numerous fortified castles built throughout the country are dated to his reign and some of them (e.g.,&nbsp;''Dowina'', sometimes identified with [[Devín Castle]])<ref name="worldarcheology">{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/00438243.1978.9979728|title=The Origins of Christianity in Slavonic Countries North of the Middle Danube Basin|journal=World Archaeology|year=1978|first=Josef|last=Poulik|volume=10|issue=2|pages=158–171|issn = 0043-8243}}</ref><ref name="caplovic">{{cite book|last=Čaplovič|first=Dušan|author2=Viliam Čičaj |author3=Dušan Kováč |author4=Ľubomír Lipták |author5=Ján Lukačka |title=Dejiny Slovenska|publisher=AEP|year=2000|location=Bratislava}}</ref> are also mentioned in connection with Rastislav by Frankish chronicles.<ref>pages=167, 566</ref>{{full citation needed |date=March 2025}}<ref name="fulda">{{cite book|title=Annales Fuldenses, sive, Annales regni Francorum orientalis ab Einhardo, Ruodolfo, Meginhardo Fuldensibus, Seligenstadi, Fuldae, Mogontiaci conscripti cum continuationibus Ratisbonensi et Altahensibus / post editionem G.&nbsp;H.&nbsp;Pertzii recognovit Friderious Kurze; Accedunt Annales Fuldenses antiquissimi|publisher=Imprensis Bibliopolii Hahniani|year=1978|location=Hanover|url=http://www.medievalsources.co.uk/fulda.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312020323/http://www.medievalsources.co.uk/fulda.htm|archive-date=12 March 2007|access-date=26 September 2009}}</ref>

During Rastislav's reign, the [[Principality of Nitra]] was given to his nephew [[Svatopluk I of Moravia|Svätopluk]] as an [[appanage]].<ref name="caplovic"/> The rebellious prince allied himself with the Franks and overthrew his uncle in 870. Similarly to his predecessor, Svätopluk I (871–894) assumed the title of the king (''rex''). During his reign, the Great Moravian Empire reached its greatest territorial extent, when not only present-day [[Moravia]] and Slovakia but also present-day northern and [[central Hungary]], [[Lower Austria]], [[Bohemia]], [[Silesia]], [[Lusatia]], southern Poland and [[Vojvodina|northern Serbia]] belonged to the empire, but the exact borders of his domains are still disputed by modern authors.<ref name="Tóth">{{cite book|last=Tóth|first=Sándor László|title=Levediától a Kárpát-medencéig ''("From Levedia to the Carpathian Basin")''|publisher=Szegedi Középkorász Műhely|year=1998|location=Szeged|page=199|isbn=963-482-175-8}}</ref> Svatopluk also withstood attacks of the [[Hungarians|Magyar]] tribes and the [[First Bulgarian Empire|Bulgarian Empire]], although sometimes it was he who hired the Magyars when waging war against [[East Francia]].<ref>page=51</ref>

In 880, [[Pope John&nbsp;VIII]] set up an independent [[ecclesiastical province]] in Great Moravia with Archbishop [[Saints Cyril and Methodius|Methodius]] as its head. He also named the German cleric [[Wiching]] the Bishop of [[Nitra]].
[[File:Great Moravia.svg|thumb|left|Certain and disputed borders of Great Moravia under [[Svatopluk I of Moravia|Svatopluk I]] (according to modern historians)]]

After the death of Prince Svatopluk in 894, his sons [[Mojmir II of Moravia|Mojmír&nbsp;II]] (894–906?) and [[Svatopluk&nbsp;II]] succeeded him as the Prince of Great Moravia and the Prince of Nitra respectively.<ref name="caplovic"/> However, they started to quarrel for domination of the whole empire. Weakened by an internal conflict as well as by constant warfare with [[Eastern Francia]], Great Moravia lost most of its peripheral territories.

It is not known what happened with both Mojmír&nbsp;II and Svatopluk&nbsp;II because they are not mentioned in written sources after 906. In [[Battle of Pressburg|three battles]] (4–5&nbsp;July and 9&nbsp;August 907) near [[Bratislava]], the Magyars routed [[Bavaria]]n armies. Some historians put this year as the date of the break-up of the Great Moravian Empire, due to the Hungarian conquest; other historians take the date a little bit earlier (to 902).

Great Moravia left behind a lasting legacy in Central and Eastern Europe. The [[Glagolitic alphabet|Glagolitic script]] and its successor [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] were disseminated to other Slavic countries, charting a new path in their [[Sociocultural evolution|sociocultural development]].

=== Grand Principality of Hungary (895–1000) ===
{{Main|Principality of Hungary}}
Foundation of the [[Principality of Hungary|Hungarian state]] is connected to the [[Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin|Hungarian conquerors]], who arrived from the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe|Pontic steppes]] as a confederation of [[Seven chieftains of the Magyars|seven tribes]]. The [[Hungarians]] arrived in the frame of a strong centralized steppe-empire under the leadership of Grand Prince [[Álmos]] and his son [[Árpád]], they became founders of the [[Árpád dynasty]], the Hungarian ruling dynasty and the Hungarian state. The [[Árpád dynasty]] claimed to be a direct descendant of the great Hun leader Attila.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last1=Horváth-Lugossy |first1=Gábor |url=https://mki.gov.hu/assets/pdf/MKI_EN_006_kings_and_saints_B5_web.pdf |title=Kings and Saints - The Age of the Árpáds |last2=Makoldi |first2=Miklós |last3=Neparáczki |first3=Endre |publisher=Institute of Hungarian Research |year=2022 |isbn=978-615-6117-65-6 |location=Budapest, Székesfehérvár}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Neparáczki |first1=Endre |last2=Maróti |first2=Zoltán |last3=Kalmár |first3=Tibor |last4=Maár |first4=Kitti |last5=Nagy |first5=István |last6=Latinovics |first6=Dóra |last7=Kustár |first7=Ágnes |last8=Pálfi |first8=György |last9=Molnár |first9=Erika |last10=Marcsik |first10=Antónia |last11=Balogh |first11=Csilla |last12=Lőrinczy |first12=Gábor |last13=Tomka |first13=Péter |last14=Kovacsóczy |first14=Bernadett |last15=Kovács |first15=László |date=12 November 2019 |title=Y-chromosome haplogroups from Hun, Avar and conquering Hungarian period nomadic people of the Carpathian Basin |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=16569 |bibcode=2019NatSR...916569N |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-53105-5 |pmc=6851379 |pmid=31719606 |last16=Török |first16=Tibor}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Neparáczki |first1=Endre |last2=Maróti |first2=Zoltán |last3=Kalmár |first3=Tibor |last4=Kocsy |first4=Klaudia |last5=Maár |first5=Kitti |last6=Bihari |first6=Péter |last7=Nagy |first7=István |last8=Fóthi |first8=Erzsébet |last9=Pap |first9=Ildikó |last10=Kustár |first10=Ágnes |last11=Pálfi |first11=György |last12=Raskó |first12=István |last13=Zink |first13=Albert |last14=Török |first14=Tibor |date=18 October 2018 |title=Mitogenomic data indicate admixture components of Central-Inner Asian and Srubnaya origin in the conquering Hungarians |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=13 |issue=10 |article-number=e0205920 |bibcode=2018PLoSO..1305920N |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0205920 |pmc=6193700 |pmid=30335830 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The [[Hungarians]] took possession of the [[Pannonian Basin|Carpathian Basin]] in a pre-planned manner, with a long move-in between 862 and 895.<ref name=":2822">{{Cite book |url=https://www.tankonyvkatalogus.hu/pdf/OH-TOR05TB__teljes.pdf |title=Történelem 5. az általános iskolások számára |publisher=Oktatási Hivatal (Hungarian Educational Authority) |year=2020 |isbn=978-615-6178-37-4 |pages=15, 112, 116, 137, 138, 141 |language=Hungarian |trans-title=History 5. for primary school students |access-date=22 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231221015211/https://www.tankonyvkatalogus.hu/pdf/OH-TOR05TB__teljes.pdf |archive-date=21 December 2023}}</ref> Their armies' advance may have been promoted by continuous wars among the countries of the region whose rulers still hired them occasionally to intervene in their struggles.<ref name="Kristó 2">{{cite book |last=Kristó |first=Gyula |title=Magyar honfoglalás – honfoglaló magyarok ''("The Hungarians' Occupation of their Country – The Hungarians occupying their Country")'' |publisher=Kossuth Könyvkiadó |year=1996 |isbn=963-09-3836-7 |pages=84–85}}</ref>

Just a few decades after the collapse of the [[Pannonian Avars|Avar Khaganate]] in 822, once again a steppe empire, the Hungarian Grand Principality united the Carpathian Basin under its rule. Only the [[East Francia|East Frankish Empire]] had such military power that it could intervent in the formation of the new order. His leadership also wanted to eliminate the new steppe state because the East Frankish Empire lost Pannonia and its Christian Avar taxpayers, and his territory was hit by increasing attacks by the Hungarians, especially Bavaria, which was then the eastern province of the Eastern Frankish Kingdom. In 907, three East Francian armies led by [[Luitpold, Margrave of Bavaria|Luitpold]], Margrave of Bavaria, which entered the Hungarian territory in order to expel the Hungarians from the Carpathian Basin, is annihilated by the Hungarian army at the [[Battle of Pressburg]]. Luitpold, Margrave of Bavaria, Dietmar I, Archbishop of Salzburg, Prince Sieghard, 19 counts, 2 bishops, and 3 abbots are killed in the battle, together with the majority of the soldiers. The Hungarians secured the lands they gained during the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, and prevented a future German invasion, the Germans did not launch an imperial scale campaign against Hungary for 123 years until 1030.<ref name="Szabados - Battle of Pressburg 2023">{{Cite web |last=Szabados |first=György |date=4 July 2023 |title="Ott az ország nekik adaték" – az "elfeledett" pozsonyi csata |trans-title=There, the country is given to them" - the "forgotten" Battle of Pressburg |url=https://mki.gov.hu/en/hirek-en/evfortulok-en/ott-az-orszag-nekik-adatek-az-elfeledett-pozsonyi-csata |website=Institute of Hungarian Research}}</ref>

=== The Kingdom of Hungary, the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire (1000–1918) ===
{{Main|Kingdom of Hungary|Habsburg monarchy|Ottoman Empire}}

[[File:Istvan-ChroniconPictum.jpg|thumb|[[Stephen I of Hungary|Stephen I]], [[King of Hungary]]]]

In 972, the ruling prince [[Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians|Géza]] of the [[Árpád dynasty]] officially started to integrate [[Principality of Hungary|Grand Principality of Hungary]] into Christian Western Europe. His son [[Stephen I of Hungary|Saint Stephen I]] became the first [[King of Hungary]] after defeating his [[Paganism|pagan]] uncle [[Koppány]]. Under Stephen, Hungary was recognised as a Catholic [[Apostolic Majesty|Apostolic Kingdom]]. Applying to [[Pope Sylvester II]], Stephen received the insignia of royalty (including probably a part of the [[Holy Crown of Hungary]]) from the papacy.

In the years 1001–1002 and 1018–1029, Slovakia was part of the [[Kingdom of Poland]], having been conquered by [[Boleslaus I the Brave]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ottov historický atlas Slovensko|year=2012|publisher=Ottovo Nakladatelství|author1=Pavol Kršák|author2=Daniel Gurňák|isbn=978-80-7360-834-7|location=Praha|oclc=827000163}}</ref> After the territory of Slovakia was returned to Hungary, a semi-autonomous polity continued to exist (or was created in 1048 by king [[Andrew I of Hungary|Andrew I]]) called [[Duchy of Nitra]]. Comprising roughly the territory of [[Principality of Nitra]] and [[Bihar County|Bihar principality]], they formed what was called a ''tercia pars regni'', third of a kingdom.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Steinhübel|first=Ján|title=Nitrianské kniežatstvo: počiatky stredovekého Slovenska = The duchy of Nitra, the beginnings of the medieval Slovakia|year=2016|isbn=978-80-85501-64-3|edition=Druhé prepracované a doplnené vydanie|publisher=Vydavatel̕stvo Rak|location=Bratislava|oclc=966315215}}</ref>

This polity existed up until 1108/1110, after which it was not restored. After this, up until the collapse of [[Austria-Hungary]] in 1918, the territory of Slovakia was an integral part of the Hungarian state.<ref>{{cite book|author=Felak, James Ramon |title=At the Price of the Republic: Hlinka's Slovak People's Party, 1929–1938|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sOlD_8Kw0K0C&pg=PA3|date=15 June 1995|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Pre|isbn=978-0-8229-7694-3|pages=3–}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Schuster, Rudolf |title=The Slovak Republic: A Decade of Independence, 1993–2002|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Brjcd07bN6sC&pg=PA71|date=January 2004|publisher=Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers|isbn=978-0-86516-568-7|pages=71–}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Prokhorov, A. M.|page=71|title=Great Soviet Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z0kNAQAAMAAJ|year=1982|publisher=Macmillan}}</ref> The ethnic composition of Slovakia became more diverse with the arrival of the [[Carpathian Germans]] in the 13th century and the [[Jews]] in the 14th century.

A significant decline in the population resulted from the [[Mongol invasion of Europe|invasion of the Mongols]] in 1241 and the subsequent famine. After the invasion, much of the territory was destroyed, but was recovered largely thanks to Hungarian king [[Béla IV of Hungary|Béla IV]]. However, in medieval times the area of Slovakia was characterised by German and [[Jewish]] immigration, burgeoning towns, construction of numerous stone castles, and the cultivation of the arts.<ref name="tibensky">{{cite book|author=Tibenský, Ján|title=Slovensko: Dejiny|publisher=Obzor|year=1971|location=Bratislava|display-authors=etal}}</ref> The arrival of German element sometimes proved a problem for the autochthonous Slovaks (and even Hungarians in the broader Hungary), since they often quickly gained most power in medieval towns, only to later refuse to share it. Breaking of old customs by Germans often resulted in national quarrels. One of which had to be sorted out by the king [[Louis I of Hungary|Louis I.]] with the proclamation [[Privilegium pro Slavis]] (Privilege for Slovaks) in the year 1381. According to this privilege, Slovaks and [[Carpathian Germans|Germans]] were to occupy each half of the seats in the city council of [[Žilina]] and the mayor should be elected each year, alternating between those nationalities. This would not be the last such case.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Žilina v slovenských dejinách : zborník z vedeckej konferencie k 620. výročiu udelenia výsad pre žilinských Slovákov: Žilina 7. mája 2001|year=2002|publisher=Knižné Centrum Vyd|author=Richard Marsina|isbn=80-8064-158-7|location=Žilina|oclc=164889878}}</ref>

[[File:1franci2.jpg|thumb|left|upright|One of the commanders of a Slovak volunteers' army captain [[Ján Francisci-Rimavský]] during the [[Slovak Uprising of 1848–49|fight for independence from the Kingdom of Hungary]]]]

In 1465, King [[Matthias Corvinus of Hungary|Matthias Corvinus]] founded the Hungarian Kingdom's third university, in Pressburg ([[Bratislava]]), but it was closed in 1490 after his death.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=City of Bratislava|url=http://www4.bratislava.sk/en/vismo5/dokumenty2.asp?u=700000&id_org=700000&id=2009414&|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080507064915/http://www4.bratislava.sk/en/vismo5/dokumenty2.asp?u=700000&id_org=700000&id=2009414&|archive-date=7 May 2008|title=Academia Istropolitana|date=14 February 2005|access-date=5 January 2008}}</ref> [[Hussites]] also settled in the region after the [[Hussite Wars]].<ref name="books.google.pl">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5qgHE29pikMC&q=turks+in+upper+hungary&pg=PA85|title=The History of the Czech Republic and Slovakia|first=William|last=Mahoney|date=18 February 2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-36306-1|via=Google Books|access-date=21 November 2020|archive-date=21 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230121210619/https://books.google.com/books?id=5qgHE29pikMC&q=turks+in+upper+hungary&pg=PA85|url-status=live}}</ref>

Owing to the [[Ottoman Empire]]'s expansion into Hungarian territory, [[Bratislava]] was designated the new capital of Hungary in 1536, ahead of the fall of the old Hungarian capital of [[Buda]] in 1541. It became part of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy, marking the beginning of a new era. The territory comprising modern Slovakia, then known as [[Upper Hungary]], became the place of settlement for nearly two-thirds of the [[Magyar tribes|Magyar]] nobility fleeing the Turks and became far more linguistically and culturally Hungarian than it was before.<ref name="books.google.pl"/> Partly thanks to old [[Hussite]] families and Slovaks studying under [[Martin Luther]], the region then experienced a growth in [[Protestantism]].<ref name="books.google.pl"/> For a short period in the 17th century, most Slovaks were [[Lutherans]].<ref name="books.google.pl"/> They defied the Catholic Habsburgs and sought protection from neighbouring [[Transylvania]], a rival continuation of the [[Magyar tribes|Magyar]] state that practised religious tolerance and normally had Ottoman backing. Upper Hungary, modern Slovakia, became the site of frequent wars between Catholics in the west territory and Protestants in the east, as well as against Turks; the frontier was on a constant state of military alert and heavily fortified by castles and citadels often manned by Catholic German and Slovak troops on the Habsburg side. By 1648, Slovakia was not spared the [[Counter-Reformation]], which brought the majority of its population from Lutheranism back to [[Roman Catholicism]]. In 1655, the printing press at the [[Trnava]] university produced the Jesuit Benedikt Szöllősi's Cantus Catholici, a Catholic hymnal in Slovak that reaffirmed links to the earlier works of Cyril and Methodius.

The [[Ottoman wars in Europe|Ottoman wars]], the rivalry between Austria and [[Transylvania]], and the frequent insurrections against the [[Habsburg monarchy]] inflicted a great deal of devastation, especially in the rural areas.<ref>"[http://www.slovakiasite.com/history-hungary.php Part of Hungary, Turkish occupation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609042837/https://www.slovakiasite.com/history-hungary.php |date=9 June 2023 }}". Slovakiasite.com</ref> In the [[Austro-Turkish War (1663–1664)]] a Turkish army led by the [[Grand Vizier]] decimated Slovakia.<ref name="books.google.pl"/> In 1682, the [[Principality of Upper Hungary]], a short-lived Ottoman vassal state, was established in the territory of modern Slovakia. Prior to this, regions on its southern rim were already encompassed in the [[Eğri Eyalet|Egri]], [[Budin Eyalet|Budin]] and [[Uyvar Eyalet|Uyvar]] [[eyalet]]s.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |year=2010 |title=The Ottoman history of Slovakia |url=https://spectator.sme.sk/c/20035850/the-ottoman-history-of-slovakia.html |access-date=30 December 2023 |website=The Slovak Spectator |language=en |archive-date=26 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026214449/https://spectator.sme.sk/c/20035850/the-ottoman-history-of-slovakia.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Ágoston |first=Gábor |year=1998 |title=HABSBURGS AND OTTOMANS: Defense, Military Change and Shifts in Power |journal=Turkish Studies Association Bulletin |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=126–141 |jstor=43385414 |issn=0275-6048 }}</ref> [[Emeric Thököly|Thököly]]'s [[kuruc]] rebels from the Principality of Upper Hungary fought alongside the Turks against the Austrians and Poles at the [[Battle of Vienna]] of 1683 led by [[John III Sobieski]]. As the [[Great Turkish War|Turks withdrew]] from Hungary in the late 17th century, the importance of the territory composing modern Slovakia decreased, although [[Pressburg]] retained its status as the capital of Hungary until 1848 when it was transferred back to Buda.<ref>[http://www.slovakiasite.com/bratislava.php Bratislava] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230727172329/https://www.slovakiasite.com/bratislava.php |date=27 July 2023 }}. Slovakiasite.com</ref>

During the [[Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas|revolution of 1848–49]], the [[Slovak Volunteer Campaigns|Slovaks started uprising]], supporting the [[Emperor of Austria|Austrian Emperor]], hoping for independence from the Hungarian part of the [[Austria-Hungary|Dual Monarchy]] and greater autonomy within the empire. They failed to achieve their aim, but the conflict resulted in Slovak rights for language in certain administrative and educational areas.

Thereafter, relations between the nationalities deteriorated (see [[Magyarisation]]), culminating in the secession of Slovakia from Hungary after World War I.<ref>{{cite web|title=Divided Memories: The Image of the First World War in the Historical Memory of Slovaks|publisher=Slovak Sociological Review, Issue 3|year=2003|url=http://www.ceeol.com/aspx/issuedetails.aspx?issueid=d5aaf7a2-7ccf-4f83-9409-e74d93a37525&articleId=283fe9e3-f8ed-463a-92cd-69ec0cb28b52|access-date=25 November 2012|archive-date=15 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220315170139/https://www.ceeol.com/aspx/issuedetails.aspx?issueid=d5aaf7a2-7ccf-4f83-9409-e74d93a37525&articleId=283fe9e3-f8ed-463a-92cd-69ec0cb28b52|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Czechoslovak independence (1918–1939) ===
{{Main|Dissolution of Austria-Hungary|Czechoslovakia|First Czechoslovak Republic|Munich Agreement|Second Czechoslovak Republic}}
{{See also|Slovak Soviet Republic|Autonomous Land of Slovakia}}

[[File:Masaryk Independence Hall2.jpg|thumb|[[Czechoslovak declaration of independence]] by [[Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk]] in the United States, 1918]]

On 18 October 1918, [[Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk]], [[Milan Rastislav Štefánik]] and [[Edvard Beneš]] declared in [[Washington, D.C.]] the [[Czechoslovak declaration of independence|independence]] for the territories of [[Kingdom of Bohemia|Bohemia]], [[Margraviate of Moravia|Moravia]], [[Silesia]], [[Upper Hungary]] and [[Carpathian Ruthenia]] from the [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] and proclaimed a common state, [[First Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovakia]].

During the chaos following the break-up of Austria-Hungary, Czechoslovakia was formed with numerous [[Czechs]], [[German people|Germans]], [[Slovaks]], [[Hungarians]] and [[Ruthenians]]. The borders were set by the [[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)|Treaty of Saint Germain]] in 1919 and [[Treaty of Trianon]] in 1920. By the treaties following the World War I, Czechoslovakia emerged as a sovereign European state.

[[File:Signature de la Paix avec la Hongrie, en tête Benárd Ágost hongrois(passant devant un piquet d'honneur à Versailles).jpg|thumb|right|The Hungarian delegation arriving to [[Grand Trianon|Grand Trianon Palace]] at [[Versailles, Yvelines|Versailles]], to sign [[Treaty of Trianon]], that cede territory of Slovakia ([[Upper Hungary]]) to Czechoslovakia after [[World War I]], 1920]]

During the [[Interwar period]], democratic Czechoslovakia was allied with France, and also with [[Romania]] and [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] ([[Little Entente]]); however, the [[Locarno Treaties]] of 1925 left East European security open. Both Czechs and Slovaks enjoyed a period of relative prosperity. There was progress in not only the development of the country's economy but also culture and educational opportunities. Yet the [[Great Depression]] caused a sharp economic downturn, followed by political disruption and insecurity in Europe.<ref>J.&nbsp;V.&nbsp;Polisencky, ''History of Czechoslovakia in Outline'' (Prague: Bohemia International 1947) at 113–114.</ref>

In the 1930s, Czechoslovakia came under continuous pressure from the [[Revanchism|revanchist]] governments of Germany, Hungary and Poland who used the aggrieved minorities in the country as a useful vehicle. Revision of the borders was called for, as Czechs constituted only 43% of the population. Eventually, this pressure led to the [[Munich Agreement]] of September 1938, which allowed the majority ethnic Germans in the [[Sudetenland]], borderlands of Czechoslovakia, to join with Germany. The remaining minorities stepped up their pressures for autonomy and the State became federalised, with Diets in Slovakia and Ruthenia. The remainder of Czechoslovakia was renamed Czecho-Slovakia and promised a greater degree of Slovak political autonomy. This, however, failed to materialise.<ref>''Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919–1939'' edited by Professor E. L. Woodward, Roham Butler, M.A., and [[Margaret Lambert]], PhD., Third Series, vol.iv, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1951, pps:94–99: 'Memorandum on the Present Political Situation in Slovakia'.</ref> Parts of southern and eastern Slovakia were also reclaimed by Hungary at the [[First Vienna Award]] of November 1938.

=== Fascist regime during World War II (1939–1945) ===
{{Main|Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|Slovakia during World War II|Slovak National Uprising}}
{{See also|Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945)|Czechoslovak government-in-exile|Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia}}

[[File:Jozef Tiso (Berlin).jpg|thumb|[[Adolf Hitler]] greeting [[Jozef Tiso]], president of the (First) [[Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|Slovak Republic]], a client state of Nazi Germany during World War II, 1941]]
After the [[Munich Agreement]] and its [[Vienna Award]], [[Nazi Germany]] threatened to annex part of Slovakia and allow the remaining regions to be partitioned by Hungary or Poland unless independence was declared. Thus, Slovakia seceded from [[Second Czechoslovak Republic|Czecho-Slovakia]] in March 1939 and allied itself, as demanded by Germany, with [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]]'s coalition.<ref>Gerhard L. Weinberg, ''The Foreign Policy of Hitler's Germany: Starting World War II, 1937–1939'' (Chicago, 1980), pp. 470–481.</ref> Secession had created the first Slovak state in history.<ref name="RadioPrague">{{cite web|author=Dominik Jůn interviewing Professor Jan Rychlík|title=Czechs and Slovaks – more than just neighbours|publisher=Radio Prague|year=2016|url=http://www.radio.cz/en/section/special/czechs-and-slovaks-more-than-just-neighbours|access-date=28 October 2016|archive-date=29 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161029043631/http://www.radio.cz/en/section/special/czechs-and-slovaks-more-than-just-neighbours|url-status=live}}</ref>

A [[one-party state|one-party]] [[Clerical fascism|clerical fascist]] [[Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|Slovak Republic]] governed by the far-right [[Slovak People's Party|Hlinka's Slovak People's Party]] was led by President [[Jozef Tiso]] and Prime Minister [[Vojtech Tuka]]. The (First) Slovak Republic is primarily known for its [[collaborationism|collaboration]] with Nazi Germany, which included sending troops to the [[Slovak invasion of Poland|invasion of Poland]] in [[September Campaign|September 1939]] and the [[Operation Barbarossa|Soviet Union]] in 1941. On 24&nbsp;November 1940, Slovakia joined the [[Axis powers|Axis]] when its leaders signed the [[Tripartite Pact]]. The country was strongly influenced by Germany and gradually became a [[puppet state|puppet regime]] in many respects.

Meanwhile, the [[Czechoslovak government-in-exile]] sought to reverse the [[Munich Agreement]] and the subsequent [[German occupation of Czechoslovakia]] and to return the Republic to its 1937 boundaries. The government operated from [[London]] and it was ultimately considered, by those countries that recognised it, the legitimate government for [[Czechoslovakia]] throughout the Second World War.

The [[History of the Jews in Slovakia|local Jewish population]] was heavily persecuted.<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 May 2022 |title=Slovaks condemn WWII deportations of Jews to Nazi death camps |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/slovaks-condemn-wwii-deportations-of-jews-to-nazi-death-camps |access-date=31 December 2023 |website=PBS NewsHour |language=en |archive-date=31 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231231230228/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/slovaks-condemn-wwii-deportations-of-jews-to-nazi-death-camps |url-status=live }}</ref> As part of the [[Holocaust in Slovakia]], 75,000 Jews out of 80,000 who remained on Slovak territory after Hungary had seized southern regions were deported and taken to German [[death camps]].<ref>{{Cite journal|date=20 May 1946|title=Obžaloba pri Národnom súde v Bratislave|journal=Spis Onľud 17/46}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Daxner|first=Igor|date=25 July 1946|title=Rozsudok Národného súdu v Bratislave|journal=Spis Tnľud 17/1946}}</ref> Thousands of Jews, Gypsies and other politically undesirable people remained in Slovak forced labour camps in [[Sereď concentration camp|Sereď]], Vyhne, and Nováky.<ref>Leni Yahil, ''The Holocaust: The Fate of European Jewry, 1932–1945'' (Oxford, 1990), pp. 402–403.</ref> Tiso, through the granting of presidential exceptions, allowed between 1,000 and 4,000 people crucial to the war economy to avoid deportations.<ref>For the higher figure, see Milan S. Ďurica, ''The Slovak Involvement in the Tragedy of the European Jews'' (Abano Terme: Piovan Editore, 1989), p. 12; for the lower figure, see Gila Fatran, "The Struggle for Jewish Survival During the Holocaust" in ''The Tragedy of the Jews of Slovakia'' (Banská Bystrica, 2002), p. 148.</ref>
Under Tiso's government and Hungarian occupation, the vast majority of Slovakia's pre-war Jewish population (between 75,000 and 105,000 individuals including those who perished from the occupied territory) were murdered.<ref>Dawidowicz, Lucy. [[The War Against the Jews]], Bantam, 1986. p. 403</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Rebekah Klein-Pejšová|title=An overview of the history of Jews in Slovakia|work=Slovak Jewish Heritage|publisher=Synagoga Slovaca|year=2006|url=http://www.slovak-jewish-heritage.org/history-of-jews-in-slovakia.html|access-date=28 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140905025639/http://www.slovak-jewish-heritage.org/history-of-jews-in-slovakia.html|archive-date=5 September 2014}}</ref> The Slovak state paid Germany 500 [[Reichsmark|RM]] per every deported Jew for "retraining and accommodation" (a similar but smaller payment of 30 RM was paid by [[Independent State of Croatia|Croatia]]).<ref>Nižňanský, Eduard (2010). ''Nacizmus, holokaust, slovenský štát'' [Nazism, holocaust, Slovak state] (in Slovak). Bratislava: Kalligram. {{ISBN|978-80-8101-396-6}}.</ref>

After it became clear that the Soviet [[Red Army]] was going to push the Nazis out of eastern and central Europe, an anti-Nazi [[resistance movement]] launched. Internal opposition to the fascist government's policies culminated in the [[Slovak National Uprising]], near the end of summer 1944. A bloody German occupation and a guerilla war followed. Germans and their [[Hlinka Guard|local collaborators]] completely destroyed 93 villages and massacred thousands of civilians, often hundreds at a time.<ref>"[http://travel.spectator.sme.sk/articles/80/slovenske_narodne_povstanie_the_slovak_national_uprising Slovenské Národné Povstanie – the Slovak national uprising] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016032830/http://travel.spectator.sme.sk/articles/80/slovenske_narodne_povstanie_the_slovak_national_uprising |date=16 October 2015 }}". [[SME (newspaper)|SME.sk]].</ref> Although the uprising was eventually suppressed, [[Slovak partisans|partisan resistance]] continued. The territory of Slovakia was liberated by Soviet and Romanian forces by the end of April 1945.

=== From Fascism to Communism (1945–1948) ===
{{Main|Third Czechoslovak Republic|1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état}}
{{See also|Soviet annexation of Transcarpathia}}

As a result of the [[Yalta Conference]] in February 1945, Czechoslovakia came under the influence of the [[Soviet Union]].

After World War&nbsp;II, Czechoslovakia was reconstituted and [[Jozef Tiso]] was executed in 1947 for collaboration with the Nazis. More than [[Hungarians in Slovakia#Population exchanges|80,000 Hungarians]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.psa.ac.uk/journals/pdf/5/2003/Erika%20Harris.pdf |title=Management of the Hungarian Issue in Slovak Politics |access-date=16 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325004909/http://www.psa.ac.uk/journals/pdf/5/2003/Erika%20Harris.pdf |archive-date=25 March 2009}}</ref> and 32,000 Germans<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.saske.sk/cas/4-98/olejnik.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080620073924/http://www.saske.sk/cas/4-98/olejnik.html |archive-date=20 June 2008 |trans-title=German minority in Slovakia after 1918 |title=Nemecká menšina na Slovensku po roku 1918 |language=sk |date=20 June 2008 |access-date=16 October 2010 }}</ref> were forced to leave Slovakia, in a series of [[Expulsion of Germans after World War II|population transfers]] initiated by the Allies at the [[Potsdam Conference]].<ref name="rock">{{cite book|last=Rock|first=David|author2=Stefan Wolff |title=Coming home to Germany? The integration of ethnic Germans from central and eastern Europe in the Federal Republic|publisher=Berghahn|year=2002|location=New York; Oxford}}</ref> Out of about 130,000 [[Carpathian Germans]] in Slovakia in 1938, by 1947 only some 20,000 remained.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mertsahinoglu.com/research/carpathian-german-history/ |title=Dr. Thomas Reimer, Carpathian Germans history |publisher=Mertsahinoglu.com |access-date=16 October 2010 |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405214825/https://mertsahinoglu.com/research/carpathian-german-history/ }}</ref>{{failed verification|date=June 2014}}

In February 1948, the [[Communist Party of Czechoslovakia]], with Soviet backing, assumed undisputed control over the government of [[Czechoslovakia]] through a [[1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état|coup d'état]] and Czechoslovakia came under direct occupation of the Soviet Union and its [[Warsaw Pact]]. It became a [[puppet state]] of the Soviet Union, but it was never part of the Soviet Union and remained independent to a certain degree.

=== Communist party rule in Czechoslovakia (1948–1989) ===
{{Main|Czechoslovak Socialist Republic}}
{{See also|Cold War|Iron Curtain|Prague Spring|Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|Communist Party of Czechoslovakia}}

[[File:Bratislava 1968 2.jpg|thumb|[[Soviet Union|Soviet]] tank in Bratislava during the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968]]

Borders with the West were protected by the [[Iron Curtain]]. About 600 people, men, women, and children, were killed on the Czechoslovak border with Austria and [[West Germany]] between 1948 and 1989.<ref>"[https://spectator.sme.sk/c/20030674/border-killings-remain-unpunished-decades-later.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308121818/https://spectator.sme.sk/c/20030674/border-killings-remain-unpunished-decades-later.html|date=8 March 2023}}." spectator.sme.sk. Retrieved on 9 June 2019. "Border killings remain unpunished decades later."</ref> 8,240 people went to forced labour camps in 1948–1953.<ref>"[https://www.upn.gov.sk/data/files/12-2016-EN-c-crimes.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526211346/https://www.upn.gov.sk/data/files/12-2016-EN-c-crimes.pdf|date=26 May 2023}}." upn.gov.sk. Retrieved on 9 June 2019. "Communist crimes in Slovakia."</ref>

On 11 July 1960, the [[1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia|Constitution of Czechoslovakia]] was promulgated, changing the name of the country from the "Czechoslovak Republic" to the "Czechoslovak Socialist Republic".

In 1968, following the [[Prague Spring]], the country was [[Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia|invaded]] by the Warsaw Pact forces ([[People's Republic of Bulgaria]], [[Hungarian People's Republic|People's Republic of Hungary]], [[Polish People's Republic|People's Republic of Poland]], and [[Soviet Union]], with the exception of [[Socialist Republic of Romania]] and [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania]]), ending a [[Prague Spring|period of liberalisation]] under the leadership of [[Alexander Dubček]]. 137 Czechoslovak civilians were killed and 500 seriously wounded during the invasion.<ref name="victims">{{cite web |last1=Fraňková |first1=Ruth |title=Historians pin down number of 1968 invasion victims |url=https://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/historians-pin-down-number-of-1968-invasion-victims |website=radio.cz |access-date=30 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170826161237/https://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/historians-pin-down-number-of-1968-invasion-victims |archive-date=26 August 2017 |date=18 August 2017}}</ref><ref name="victims2">{{cite web|title=August 1968 – Victims of the Occupation|url=http://www.ustrcr.cz/en/august-1968-victims-of-the-occupation|website=ustrcr.cz|publisher=Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů|access-date=23 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718191818/http://www.ustrcr.cz/en/august-1968-victims-of-the-occupation|archive-date=18 July 2011}}</ref>

In 1969, Czechoslovakia became a [[Constitutional Act on the Czechoslovak Federation|federation]] of the [[Czech Socialist Republic]] and the [[Slovak Socialist Republic]] within the [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic]].

[[File:Fidel Castro 1972 (SOA Prague).jpg|thumb|Czechoslovak communist leader [[Gustáv Husák]] (right) with [[Fidel Castro]] during his state visit of Czechoslovakia, 1972]]

Czechoslovakia was allied with communist regimes worldwide. As one of the first countries in the world acknowledged [[Kim Il-sung]]'s [[Democratic People's Republic of Korea]]. After the beginning of the [[Korean War]], Czechoslovakia protested against measures taken by the Security Council. Czechoslovak communist leaders considered the intervention against North Korean aggression illegal. During summer 1950, many resolutions against "American imperialism" were sent to the United Nations from Czechoslovakia. During the Korean War in 1952, Czechoslovakia sent a military hospital with two hospital teams consisting of 58 people to North Korea.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://m.koreatimes.co.kr/pages/article.asp?newsIdx=140012|title=Images shed light on work of Czechoslovakia|date=26 July 2013|website=The Korea Times}}</ref>

When [[Fidel Castro]] took power after the [[Cuban Revolution]] in 1959, Czechoslovakia opened an embassy in Cuba and developed mutual relations. In August 1968, Castro denounced the [[Prague Spring]] as led by a "fascist reactionary rabble" and praised the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.<ref>[[#Bou86|Bourne 1986]]. pp. 270&ndash;271.</ref><ref>[[#Col03|Coltman 2003]]. pp. 216&ndash;217.</ref> During the [[Vietnam War]], Czechoslovakia sent [[International participation in the Vietnam War|significant aid]] to [[North Vietnam]].<ref name="Bischof2">{{Cite book |last1=Bischof |first1=Günter |title=The Prague Spring and the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 |last2=Karner |first2=Stefan |last3=Ruggenthaler |first3=Peter |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-7391-4304-9 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=gZzEYyB8X8YC&pg=PA293 293]}}</ref> The Czechoslovak government created committees which sought to not only promote and establish peace, but also to promote victory for [[Viet Cong]] and [[Vietnam People's Army]] forces.<ref name="Bischof2" />{{Rp|}} Czech-made equipment and military aid would increase significantly following the Prague Spring.<ref name="Francev2">{{Cite book |last=Francev |first=Vladimir |title=Československé zbraně ve světě: V míru i za války |publisher=Grada Publishing |year=2015 |isbn=978-80-247-5314-0 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=NWQACgAAQBAJ&pg=PA166 166] |language=cs}}</ref> Czechoslovakia continued to send tens of thousands of Czech-made rifles as well as mortar and artillery throughout the war.<ref name="Francev2" />

=== From Communism to Democracy (1989–1992) ===
{{Main|Czech and Slovak Federative Republic}}
{{See also|Slovak National Council's Declaration of Independence of the Slovak Nation|Constitution of Slovakia}}

[[File:Praha 19891122-419-02.jpg|thumb|The [[Velvet Revolution]] ended 41 years of authoritarian communist rule in [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic|Czechoslovakia]] in 1989.]]

The end of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989, during the peaceful [[Velvet Revolution]], was followed once again by the country's dissolution, this time into two [[succession of states|successor states]]. [[Czechoslovak Socialist Republic]] renamed as [[Czech and Slovak Federative Republic]], the word "socialist" was dropped in the names of the two republics within the federation, the Slovak Socialist Republic renamed as [[Slovak Socialist Republic|Slovak Republic]].

On 17&nbsp;July 1992, Slovakia, led by Prime Minister [[Vladimír Mečiar]], declared itself a sovereign state, meaning that its laws took precedence over those of the federal government. Throughout the autumn of 1992, Vladimír Mečiar and [[List of Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic|Czech Prime Minister]] [[Václav Klaus]] negotiated the details for disbanding the federation. In November, the federal parliament voted to dissolve the country officially on 31&nbsp;December 1992.

=== Slovak independence (since 1993) ===
==== 1990s ====
The Slovak Republic and the [[Czech Republic]] went their separate ways on 1&nbsp;January 1993, an event sometimes called the [[Dissolution of Czechoslovakia|Velvet Divorce]], after 74 years of joint existence disrupted only by World War II.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.slovakia.org/history-topics |title=The Breakup of Czechoslovakia |publisher=Slovakia |access-date=3 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010135407/http://www.slovakia.org/history-topics |archive-date=10 October 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/velvet+divorce |title=Velvet divorce |publisher=Dictionary.reference.com |access-date=3 June 2011 |archive-date=6 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906095009/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/velvet+divorce |url-status=live }}</ref> Slovakia has, nevertheless, remained a close partner with the Czech Republic; the two countries are close European allies and both co-operate with Hungary and Poland in the [[Visegrád Group]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://enrsi.rtvs.sk/articles/news/367346/czech-republic-important-partner-for-slovakia|title=Czech Republic important partner for Slovakia|date=19 June 2024|website=Radio Slovakia International}}</ref> The first President of the Slovak Republic became [[Michal Kováč]], elected by the [[National Council of Slovakia]] in February 1993.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/michal-kovac-president-of-the-slovak-republic-1993-1998|title=Michal Kováč, President of the Slovak Republic 1993–1998|date=1 February 1999|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> Slovakia became a member of the [[United Nations]] on 19&nbsp;January 1993, on 31&nbsp;March 1993 ratified the [[World Heritage Convention|UNESCO World Heritage Convention]], making its historical sites eligible for inclusion on the [[UNESCO]] list and on 15&nbsp;April 1993 joined [[GATT]] (current [[World Trade Organization]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/countries_e/slovak_republic_e.htm|title=Slovak Republic and the WTO|website=World Trade Organization}}</ref>

After the fall of communism and the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, the country was unprepared for organised crime.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/organized-crime-terrorizes-slovak-society|title=Organized crime terrorizes Slovak society|date=26 February 1998|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> [[Crime in Slovakia|Crime rates in Slovakia]] soared in the 1990s, the first post-communist gangsters emerged and [[Slovak mafia|mafia]] became the major problem in the country.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/slovakias-mafia-pioneer|title=Slovakia's mafia pioneer|date=17 March 2008|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> Most of the law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges had no experience of investigating, trying, or sentencing criminals. Many officials lacked even basic knowledge of the leading criminal operators in their communities.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.occrp.org/en/project/unfinished-lives-unfinished-justice/how-the-mafias-came-to-slovakia|title=How the Mafias Came to Slovakia|date=19 February 2019|website=Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project}}</ref> Between 1994–1998, during the government of [[Prime Minister of Slovakia|Prime Minister]] [[Vladimír Mečiar]], organised crime became well established and it penetrated the highest political positions.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/europe/2000/04/27/the-arrest-of-vladimir-meciar|title=The arrest of Vladimir Meciar|date=27 April 2000|newspaper=The Economist}}</ref> One of the major crime events was kidnapping of Slovak president's son Michal Kováč Jr. in 1995, organised by [[Slovenská informačná služba|Slovak intelligence service]] and the government of Vladimír Mečiar.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/former-intelligence-employee-claims-ex-sis-head-oversaw-the-abduction-of-the-presidents-son|title=Ex intelligence employee: Lexa oversaw the 1995 abduction|date=10 January 2018|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/almost-30-years-ago-the-slovak-presidents-son-was-kidnapped-the-trial-may-finally-begin-this-year|title=Almost 30 years ago, the Slovak president's son was kidnapped. The trial may finally begin this year|date=18 January 2024|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> Processes of [[privatization in Slovakia]] began, often criticized for lack of transparency and corruption. Hundreds of state assets came into private hands to only a selected group of businessmen.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/new-meciar-era-privatisation-details|title=New Mečiar-era privatisation details|date=18 May 2009|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> In the 1990s, Slovakia had central Europe's worst-performing economy, marked by high unemployment rates and inflation with least democratic government. [[Madeleine Albright]], the [[U.S. secretary of state]], referred to it as ''"a black hole in the heart of Europe"''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://euobserver.com/eu-political/ar4ce0cffc|title=Slovakia – from black hole to neutron star|date=29 August 2018|website=EUobserver}}</ref> This time period in Slovakia is also known as ''"[[The wild nineties|Wild 90s]]"'' (''"Divoké 90.roky"'').<ref>{{cite web|url=https://hnonline.sk/slovensko/939111-divoke-90-roky-pozrite-si-zabudnute-fotografie-z-ery-meciarizmu-kedy-si-stat-robil|title=Divoké 90. roky. Pozrite si zabudnuté fotky z éry mečiarizmu, kedy si štát robil, čo chcel|date=5 April 2017|website=Hospodárske noviny}}</ref> Since March 1998, the country was 14 months without a head of state, when the National Council of Slovakia [[1998 Slovak presidential election|multiple times failed]] to elect the new president, which led to the introduction of a [[1999 Slovak presidential election|direct presidential election]] in 1999.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/slovaks-head-to-polls-may-15-to-elect-president-but-why|title=Slovaks head to polls May 15 to elect president – but why?|date=17 May 1999|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref>

After the [[1998 Slovak parliamentary election|1998 parliamentary election]], [[Mikuláš Dzurinda]] went on to replace Vladimír Mečiar as Prime Minister, and during two successive governments between 1998–2006, relaunched the transformation processes that had stalled under Mečiar.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/c/23123278/the-man-who-saved-slovakia-in-1998-attempts-a-cinematic-relaunch.html|title=The man who saved Slovakia in 1998 attempts a cinematic relaunch|date=30 January 2023|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> The country embarked on a reformist course that saw the introduction of a flat tax, liberalisation of the labour market, deregulation of business, and partial privatization of social security. Government of Mikuláš Dzurinda led Slovakia into OECD, NATO and the European Union.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.upms.sk/media/Slovakia_A_story_of_reforms.pdf|title=Slovakia: A story of reforms|date=2008|website=Univerzita pre moderné Slovensko}}</ref> In 1999, the second President of Slovakia became [[Rudolf Schuster]], first directly-elected president.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/schuster-acceptable-says-west|title=Schuster 'acceptable,' says West|date=7 June 1999|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref>

==== 2000s ====
[[File:Tratado de Lisboa 13 12 2007 (081).jpg|thumb|Slovakia became a member of the European Union in 2004 and signed the [[Lisbon Treaty]] in 2007.]]

Slovakia became a member of [[OECD]] on 14&nbsp;December 2000, [[NATO]] on 29&nbsp;March 2004 and of the [[European Union]] on 1&nbsp;May 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbs.sk/_img/documents/biatec/trajan.pdf|title=Review of Slovakia's accession to the OECD|date=February 2001|website=National bank of Slovakia}}</ref> The country used to be dubbed the ''"[[Tatra Tiger]]"'' in the 2000s as achieved, on average, roughly 6% per capita GDP growth each year from 2000 to 2008.<ref name="auto">{{cite journal |last1=Nicolae-Dragos |first1=Biea |year=2015 |url=https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2017-01/eb008_en_2.pdf |title=Economic growth in Slovakia: Past successes and future challenges |journal=Acta Oeconomica |series=European Economy Economic Briefs |edition=008 |publisher=European Commission |doi=10.2765/01942 |isbn=978-92-79-54469-9 |issn=2443-8030 |access-date=10 May 2023 |archive-date=29 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230829050234/https://economy-finance.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2017-01/eb008_en_2.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Akadémiai Kiadó">{{cite journal |last1=Pogátsa |first1=Zoltán |author-link=Zoltán Pogátsa |year=2009 |title=Tatra Tiger: Growth Miracle or Belated Recovery? |journal=Acta Oeconomica |location=Budapest |publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó |volume=59 |issue=4 |pages=377–390 |doi=10.1556/AOecon.59.2009.4.1 |issn=0001-6373 |jstor=40729918}}</ref> [[Ivan Gašparovič]] became the third president of Slovakia in 2004 and in 2009 became the first and the only Slovak re-elected president.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/en/20090405-ivan-gasparovic-elected-president-|title=Ivan Gasparovic re-elected President|date=5 April 2009|website=France 24}}</ref>

In 2006, [[Robert Fico]] became Prime Minister, during his first government, Slovakia joined the [[Schengen area]] on 21&nbsp;December 2007, allowing visa free travel and on 1&nbsp;January 2009 adopted the [[Euro]] as its national currency at 30.1260 [[Slovak koruna|korunas]] to the euro.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Slovakia joins the euro – European Commission|url=https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/articles/euro/article13563_en.htm|access-date=7 April 2021|website=ec.europa.eu|archive-date=8 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230308121832/https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/articles/euro/article13563_en.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The Slovak economy was involved in a major slowdown during the [[2008 financial crisis]], experiencing the deepest [[recession]] in history.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/96500/commentary_19.pdf|title=Slovakia's economic success and the global crisis|date=2 February 2009|website=CES commentary}}</ref> At the beginning of 2009, Slovakia faced energy crisis and declared a [[state of emergency]], after Russia cut gas supplies to Europe via Ukrainian pipelines as part of a [[2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute|price dispute with Ukraine]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/energy-crisis-looms-as-all-gas-imports-cease|title=Energy crisis looms as all gas imports cease|date=12 January 2009|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref>

==== 2010s ====
Between 2010–2012, Slovak government was led by first female Prime Minister [[Iveta Radičová]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/new-parliament-meets-radicova-becomes-pm|title=New parliament meets, Radičová becomes PM|date=12 July 2010|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> Her government lasted only two years, Radičová combined the vote on the strengthening of the [[European Financial Stability Facility]] – a key anti-crisis mechanism in the [[eurozone]] – with a vote of confidence for her cabinet. Slovak parliament rejected the EFSF, which led to the collapse of the government.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/coalition-splits-government-falls|title=Coalition splits, government falls|date=12 October 2011|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref>

In 2012, Robert Fico became second time Prime Minister when his political party [[Direction – Social Democracy]] won [[2012 Slovak parliamentary election|election]] and collected 83 of 150 seats in [[National Council of Slovakia|National Council]], becoming the first single party to win a [[Majority government|clear majority]] in the Slovak parliament since the fall of communism.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/smer-wins-historic-election-victory|title=Smer wins historic election victory|date=11 March 2012|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> In 2014, [[Andrej Kiska]] became the fourth President of Slovakia. For the first time was elected as President entrepreneur and first-time politician.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/presidential-vote-kiska-becomes-president-official-results-confirm|title=Kiska becomes president, official results confirm|date=30 March 2014|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> International crisis impacted Slovak politics and quickly started dominating the country's political life and media coverage, such as [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation]] in neighbouring Ukraine in 2014 or [[2015 European migrant crisis|European migrant crisis]] in 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/refugee-crisis-affects-slovak-politics|title=Refugee crisis affects Slovak politics|date=28 December 2015|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref>

After the [[2016 Slovak parliamentary election|parliamentary election]] in 2016, Robert Fico became third time Prime Minister, making him longest-serving prime minister in Slovak history, if the years are counted cumulatively.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/prime-minister-robert-fico-smer|title=Prime Minister: Robert Fico (Smer)|date=22 March 2016|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> Third term of Fico's government was characterised by social and political turmoil. On February 21, 2018, young Slovak investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, [[Murder of Ján Kuciak|were killed]] in their home in [[Veľká Mača]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.eu/article/jan-kuciak-last-story-italian-mafias-tentacles-reach-into-slovak-politics/|title=Ján Kuciak's last story: Italian mafia's tentacles reach into Slovak politics|date=28 February 2018|website=Politico}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://cmpf.eui.eu/the-murders-of-slovak-journalist-jan-kuciak-and-his-partner-marina-kusnirova-represent-a-serious-threat-to-media-freedom-in-europe/|title=The Murders of Slovak Journalist Ján Kuciak and Partner Marina Kušnírova Represent a Serious Threat to Media Freedom in Europe|date=1 March 2018|website=Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom}}</ref> Thousands of people protested in streets across Slovakia for independent investigation of journalist's murder and a 'trustworthy' government in [[Murder of Ján Kuciak#Political crisis|largest demonstrations]] in the country since the Velvet Revolution.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/enough-of-smer-people-chanted-in-streets|title=Enough of Smer, people chanted in streets|date=16 March 2018|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> Due to protests, Robert Fico resigned, and the government continued under a new Prime Minister [[Peter Pellegrini]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/pellegrini-new-prime-minister-slovakia|title=Peter Pellegrini to become new prime minister. Who is he?|date=15 March 2018|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> In 2019, [[Zuzana Čaputová]] became the fifth President of Slovakia, first female president.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Walker|first=Shaun|date=31 March 2019|title=Slovakia's first female president hails victory for progressive values|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/31/slovakia-elects-zuzana-caputova-first-female-president|access-date=15 July 2020|issn=0261-3077|archive-date=15 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230915051334/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/31/slovakia-elects-zuzana-caputova-first-female-president|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== 2020s ====
After the [[2020 Slovak parliamentary election|parliamentary election]] in 2020, [[Igor Matovič]] became the new Prime Minister of Slovakia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/president-assigns-matovic-to-create-government|title=It's official: Matovič assigned to form the new government|date=4 March 2020|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> Matovič and his government, with little to no previous government experience, was dealing with the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] and [[COVID-19 recession]], during which more than [[COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia|21,000 people]] died in Slovakia between 2020–2023, the worst death toll in the country since the end of World War II.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/c/23218815/covid-slovakia.html|title=Q&A: Will there be another Covid-19 wave in Slovakia? What about vaccines?|date=22 September 2023|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/c/22594536/in-2020-slovakia-suffered-its-worst-death-toll-since-the-end-of-ww2.html|title=In 2020, Slovakia suffered its worst death toll since the end of WW2|date=11 February 2020|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Slovak economy faced the worst economic crisis since the [[2008 financial crisis]] and fell into recession.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/business/c/statistics-data-second-quarter-2020-coronavirus-impact-on-economy|title=Worse than the financial crisis: Economic recession and the very first drop in wages|date=9 September 2020|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref>
At the beginning of 2021, Matovič signed an agreement to acquire 2 million doses of Russia's [[Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine]], which has not been cleared by [[European Union]] regulators.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/europe-coronavirus-pandemic-bratislava-zuzana-caputova-slovakia-e9bb5d69e8bc41037e49bdc1f2fc810d|title=Slovak premier, government resign over Russian vaccine deal|date=30 March 2021|website=Associated Press}}</ref> Matovič orchestrated the deal despite disagreement among his coalition partners, which led to a government crisis and his resignation.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/03/29/slovakia-sputnik-matovic/|title=Slovakia's prime minister is the first world leader to step down over covid controversy|date=29 March 2021|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/igor-matovic-stepped-down-as-pm|title=Igor Matovič stepped down as PM|date=30 March 2021|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> The government continued under a new Prime Minister [[Eduard Heger]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/slovak-president-appoints-eduard-heger-prime-minister-2021-04-01/|title=Slovak president appoints Heger prime minister, ending political crisis|date=1 April 2021|website=Reuters}}</ref> Heger and his government faced many challenges, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russian invasion]] in neighbouring Ukraine, [[Ukrainian refugee crisis]], [[Global energy crisis (2021–2023)|Global energy crisis]] and [[2021–2023 inflation surge|Inflation surge]]. After a strong economic recovery in 2021, growth slowed down markedly in 2022 and 2023 as a result of the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, notably the subsequent [[International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War|EU sanctions on Russia]] and Global energy crisis.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/business/c/energy-crisis-will-force-slovak-economy-into-a-recession-in-2023|title=Energy crisis will force Slovak economy into a recession in 2023|date=28 December 2022|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> Slovakia became one of Ukraine's largest [[List of military aid to Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War|donors of military aid]] during Heger's government in 2022 and 2023.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/slovakia-comes-out-as-one-of-ukraines-biggest-supporters|title=Slovakia comes out as one of Ukraine's biggest supporters|date=25 April 2022|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> Government crisis in Slovakia continued with various disputes in the coalition. At the end of 2022, Heger's government collapsed, after a lost no-confidence vote in parliament.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/slovakias-government-collapses-after-a-lost-no-confidence-vote|title=Slovakia's government collapses after a lost no-confidence vote|date=15 December 2022|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> In 2023, in the interim before the next election, President Zuzana Čaputová appointed the first [[Technocracy|technocrat government]] in Slovak history and [[Ľudovít Ódor]] became the new Prime Minister for only six months, the third Prime Minister of Slovakia in three years.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/slovakia-government-elections-odor-caputova-heger-a4751ae82f60cf74c4c2ddb1a2a9a369|title=Slovakia gets technocratic caretaker government until September's early election|date=15 May 2023|website=Associated Press}}</ref>

After the [[2023 Slovak parliamentary election|parliamentary election]] in 2023, Robert Fico became for the fourth time Prime Minister.<ref name="reuters.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/slovakias-fico-appointed-prime-minister-fourth-time-2023-10-25/|title=Slovakia's Fico appointed prime minister for fourth time|date=25 October 2023|website=Reuters}}</ref> The new government halted military aid to Ukraine, while still providing humanitarian aid and electricity supplies.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.eu/article/slovakia-robert-fico-announce-halt-military-aid-ukraine/|title=Slovakia's Fico announces halt of military aid to Ukraine|date=26 October 2023|website=Politico}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://kyivindependent.com/slovakia-to-increase-electricity-supplies-to-ukraine-ahead-of-colder-months-slovak-president-says/|title=Slovakia to increase electricity supplies to Ukraine during colder months, Slovak president says|date=5 July 2024|website=The Kyiv Independent}}</ref> On May 15, 2024, Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot several times and wounded in an [[Attempted assassination of Robert Fico|assassination attempt]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/slovak-premier-attack-handlova|title=PM Fico shot as he speaks to supporters in Handlová|date=15 May 2024|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> The suspect stated during interrogation that he acted primarily because of the Fico government's opposition to military assistance to Ukraine.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.eu/article/slovak-pm-robert-fico-attack-shooting-suspect-policies-ukraine-war/|title=Fico's 'Judas' government should have backed Ukraine, shooting suspect says|date=23 May 2024|website=Politico}}</ref> In 2024, [[Peter Pellegrini]] became the sixth President of Slovakia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/opinion/c/slovak-president-peter-pellegrinis-inaugural-address|title=President Pellegrini: Slovak interests matter to me more than praise from media and world leaders|date=15 June 2024|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> Pellegrini is the first Slovak politician to have held all three highest constitutional posts (President, Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament) in the country. Fourth term of Fico's government is characterized by political instability with fragile coalition, worsening relations with European Union, diplomatic disputes with the closest ally [[Czech Republic]] and growing Russian influence.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lansinginstitute.org/2025/01/15/slovakias-political-turmoil-a-fragile-coalition-and-the-shadow-of-russian-influence/|title=Slovakia's Political Turmoil: A Fragile Coalition and the Shadow of Russian Influence|date=15 January 2025|website=Robert Lansing Institute}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://english.radio.cz/slovak-pm-accuses-czech-politicians-interfering-slovakias-internal-affairs-8841199|title=Slovak PM accuses Czech politicians of interfering in Slovakia's internal affairs|date=28 January 2025|website=Radio Prague International}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://ecamaastricht.org/blueandyellow-zoomingin/democracy-under-threat-the-current-political-climate-in-slovakia|title=Democracy under threat - The current political climate in Slovakia|date=19 March 2025|website=ECA Maastricht}}</ref> Pro-Russia policies of Slovak government,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tvpworld.com/87547078/perhaps-west-should-forgive-russia-says-slovakias-minister|title=Slovakia's foreign minister says Russia should 'perhaps' be forgiven|date=29 June 2025|website=TVP World}}</ref> questioning Slovakia's future in the European Union and NATO,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/experts-warn-of-dangerous-rhetoric-as-smer-mp-questions-slovakias-eu-future/|title=Experts warn of dangerous rhetoric as SMER MP questions Slovakia's EU future|date=21 January 2025|website=Euractiv}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/slovak-pm-fico-raises-neutrality-before-nato-summit|title=Slovak PM Fico raises neutrality before NATO summit|date=17 June 2025|website=The Straits Times}}</ref> criticism of Ukrainian President [[Volodymyr Zelenskyy]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/slovak-pm-scandalizes-with-remarks-about-1738096849.html|title=Slovak PM makes scandalous statement about Zelenskyy|date=28 January 2025|website=RBC-Ukraine}}</ref> and Fico's good relationship with Russian President [[Vladimir Putin]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz0rn85v5kjo|title=Slovak PM meets Putin in unannounced Moscow visit|date=23 December 2024|website=BBC News}}</ref> led to [[2025 Slovak protests|widespread demonstrations]] across the country.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/slovakias-peaceful-anti-government-protests-grow-nationwide/a-71406871|title=Slovakia's peaceful anti-government protests grow nationwide|date=25 January 2025|website=Deutsche Welle}}</ref> Slovakia fell significantly in the media freedom ranking and corruption ranking.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/slovakia-suffers-historic-drop-in-corruption-ranking-amid-ficos-controversial-reforms/|title=Slovakia suffers historic drop in corruption ranking amid Fico's controversial reforms|date=12 February 2025|website=Euractiv}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.article19.org/resources/slovakia-new-report-highlights-growing-media-freedom-crisis/|title=Slovakia: New report highlights growing media freedom crisis|date=20 February 2025|website=Article 19}}</ref> Crisis of democratic society was followed by economic decline, underlined by downgrade rating from credit rating agency [[Moody's Ratings|Moody's]] and later [[S&P Global Ratings|Standard & Poor's]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://europrospects.eu/slovakias-crisis-deepens-under-fico-economic-decline-and-political-polarization/|title=Slovakia's Crisis Deepens Under Fico: Economic Decline and Political Polarization|date=1 December 2024|website=Euro Prospects}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/business/c/moody-s-downgrades-slovakia-s-credit-rating|title=Moody's downgrades Slovakia's credit rating|date=16 December 2024|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://disclosure.spglobal.com/ratings/en/regulatory/article/-/view/type/HTML/id/3359667|title=Slovakia Outlook Revised To Negative On Rising Economic Risks; 'A+/A-1' Ratings Affirmed|date=25 April 2025|website=S&P Global}}</ref> In 2025, the government amended constitution to recognize [[List of gender identities|only two genders]] (male and female), sparking human rights concerns.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0m4kpg2nmmo|title=Slovakia passes law to recognise only two sexes and restrict adoption|date=26 September 2025|website=BBC News}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/09/slovakia-parliaments-approval-of-draconian-constitutional-amendments-is-a-step-towards-erosion-of-human-rights/|title=Slovakia: Parliament's approval of draconian constitutional amendments is a step towards erosion of human rights|date=26 September 2025|website=Amnesty International}}</ref>

== Geography ==
{{Main|Geography of Slovakia}}
{{See also|Geomorphological division of Slovakia}}
{{Wide image|High Tatras Panorama.jpg|1000px|Panorama of the [[High Tatras]]}}

Slovakia lies between latitudes [[47th parallel north|47°]] and [[50th parallel north|50° N]], and longitudes [[16th meridian east|16°]] and [[23rd meridian east|23° E]]. The Slovak landscape is noted primarily for its mountainous nature, with the [[Carpathian Mountains]] extending across most of the northern half of the country. Among these [[mountain range]]s are the high peaks of the [[Fatra-Tatra Area]] (including [[Tatra Mountains]], [[Veľká Fatra|Greater Fatra]] and [[Lesser Fatra]]), [[Slovak Ore Mountains]], [[Slovak Central Mountains]] or [[Beskids]]. The largest lowland is the fertile [[Danubian Lowland]] in the southwest, followed by the [[Eastern Slovak Lowland]] in the southeast.<ref name=cia>{{cite web |title= Slovakia |work= [[The World Factbook]] |publisher= [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] |year= 2007 |url= https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/slovakia/ |access-date= 26 April 2008 |archive-date= 19 March 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210319021658/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/slovakia |url-status= live }}</ref> Forests cover 41% of Slovak land surface.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.etrend.sk/trend-archiv/rok-/cislo-J%C3%BAn/az-dve-paetiny-uzemia-slovenska-pokryvaju-lesy.html|title=Až dve pätiny územia Slovenska pokrývajú lesy|publisher=etrend.sk|access-date=29 August 2017|archive-date=29 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829040513/https://www.etrend.sk/trend-archiv/rok-/cislo-J%C3%BAn/az-dve-paetiny-uzemia-slovenska-pokryvaju-lesy.html}}</ref>

=== Tatra mountains ===
{{Main|Tatra Mountains}}
[[File:Slovakia topo.jpg|upright=1.35|thumb|A [[topography|topographical]] map of Slovakia]]

The Tatra Mountains, with 29 peaks higher than {{convert|2500|m|0|abbr=off}} [[Sea level#AMSL|AMSL]], are the highest mountain range in the Carpathian Mountains. The Tatras occupy an area of {{cvt|750|km2|}}, of which the greater part {{cvt|600|km2|}} lies in Slovakia. They are divided into several parts.

To the north, close to the Polish border, are the [[High Tatras]] which are a popular [[hiking]] and [[skiing]] destination and home to many scenic lakes and valleys as well as the highest point in Slovakia, the [[Gerlachovský štít]] at {{convert|2655|m|0}} and the country's highly symbolic mountain [[Kriváň (peak)|Kriváň]]. To the west are the [[Western Tatras]] with their highest peak of [[Bystrá (mountain)|Bystrá]] at {{convert|2248|m|0}} and to the east are the [[Belianske Tatras]], smallest by area.

Separated from the Tatras proper by the valley of the [[Váh]] river are the [[Low Tatras]], with their highest peak of [[Ďumbier]] at {{convert|2043|m|0}}.

The Tatra mountain range is represented as one of the three hills on the [[coat of arms of Slovakia]].

=== National parks ===
{{Main|List of national parks of Slovakia}}
[[File:Palcmanská Maša.JPG|thumb|right|[[Slovak Paradise National Park]]]]
There are nine national parks in Slovakia, covering 6.5% of the Slovak land surface. These parks are: [[Tatra National Park, Slovakia|Tatra National Park]], [[Low Tatras National Park]], [[Veľká Fatra National Park]], [[Slovak Karst National Park]], [[Poloniny National Park]], [[Malá Fatra National Park]], [[Muránska planina National Park]], [[Slovak Paradise National Park]] and [[Pieniny National Park (Slovakia)|Pieniny National Park]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lamnia.sk/maco/turistika/np/index.php|title=Národné parky na Slovensku|publisher=lamnia.sk|access-date=26 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010135408/http://www.lamnia.sk/maco/turistika/np/index.php|archive-date=10 October 2017}}</ref>

=== Caves ===
{{Main|List of caves in Slovakia}}
[[File:Domica Cave 20.jpg|thumb|right|[[Domica Cave]]]]

Slovakia has hundreds of caves and caverns under its mountains, of which 30 are open to the public.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ssj.sk/sk/verejnosti-volne-pristupne-jaskyne|title=Verejnosti voľne prístupné jaskyne|publisher=ssj.sk|access-date=19 August 2017|archive-date=2 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602014817/https://www.ssj.sk/sk/verejnosti-volne-pristupne-jaskyne|url-status=live}}</ref> Most of the caves have [[stalagmite]]s rising from the ground and [[stalactite]]s hanging from above.

There are currently five Slovak caves under [[UNESCO]]'s World Heritage Site status: [[Dobšiná Ice Cave]], [[Domica]], [[Gombasek Cave]], [[Jasovská Cave]] and [[Ochtinská Aragonite Cave]]. Other caves open to the public include [[Belianska Cave]], [[Demänovská Cave of Liberty]], [[Demänovská Ice Cave]] or [[Bystrianska Cave]].

=== Rivers ===
{{Main|List of rivers of Slovakia}}
[[File:Widok z Trzech Koron w Pieninach, 20231014 1446 2508.jpg|thumb|right|[[Dunajec|Dunajec river]]]]

Most of the rivers arise in the Slovak mountains. Some only pass through Slovakia, while others make a natural border with surrounding countries (more than {{convert|620|km|mi|disp=sqbr}}). For example, the [[Dunajec]] ({{convert|17|km|disp=sqbr}}) to the north, the [[Danube River|Danube]] ({{convert|172|km|disp=sqbr}}) to the south or the [[Morava (river)|Morava]] ({{convert|119|km|disp=sqbr}}) to the West. The total length of the rivers on Slovak territory is {{convert|49774|km}}.

The longest river in Slovakia is the [[Váh]] ({{convert|403|km|disp=sqbr}}), the shortest is the Čierna voda. Other important and large rivers are the [[Myjava (river)|Myjava]], the [[Nitra (river)|Nitra]] ({{convert|197|km|disp=sqbr}}), the [[Orava (river)|Orava]], the [[Hron]] ({{convert|298|km|disp=sqbr}}), the [[Hornád]] ({{convert|193|km|disp=sqbr}}), the [[Slaná river|Slaná]] ({{convert|110|km|disp=sqbr}}), the [[Ipeľ]] ({{convert|232|km|disp=sqbr}}, forming the border with Hungary), the [[Bodrog]], the [[Laborec]], the [[Latorica]] and the [[Ondava]].

The biggest volume of discharge in Slovak rivers is during [[Spring (season)|spring]], when the snow melts from the mountains. The only exception is the Danube, whose discharge is the greatest during summer when the snow melts in the [[Alps]]. The Danube is the largest river that flows through Slovakia.<ref>{{cite web |author=Nie ste prihlásený. |url=https://www.slovakregion.sk/vodstvo-jazera-rieky-rybniky-slovenska |title=Vodstvo – Jazerá – rieky – rybníky Slovenska |publisher=Slovakregion.sk |access-date=10 September 2013 |archive-date=25 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225205204/https://slovakregion.sk/vodstvo-jazera-rieky-rybniky-slovenska |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Climate ===
{{multiple image|perrow = 2|total_width=300
| align = left
| image1 = 1. máj Hlavná ulica Prešov 23 Slovakia 38.jpg
| image2 = CulHer14Slovakia328.JPG
| image3 = DanielovDomVysokéTatry15Slovakia31.JPG
| image4 = Banská Štiavnica im Herbst.JPG
| footer = Four seasons in Slovakia: spring in [[Prešov]], summer in [[Spišské Podhradie]], autumn in [[High Tatras]], winter in [[Banská Štiavnica]] (the town is a [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]])
}}

The Slovak climate lies between the temperate and [[continental climate]] zones with relatively warm [[summer]]s and cold, cloudy and humid [[winter]]s. Temperature extremes are between {{convert|-41|and|40.3|C}} although temperatures below {{convert|-30|C}} are rare. The weather differs from the mountainous north to the plains in the south.

The warmest region is [[Bratislava]] and Southern Slovakia where the temperatures may reach {{convert|30|C}} in summer, occasionally to {{convert|39|C}} in [[Hurbanovo]]. During night, the temperatures drop to {{convert|20|C}}. The daily temperatures in winter average in the range of {{convert|-5|C}} to {{convert|10|C}}. During night it may be freezing, but usually not below {{convert|-10|C}}.

In Slovakia, there are four [[season]]s, each season ([[Spring (season)|spring]], summer, [[autumn]] and winter) lasts three months. The dry continental air brings in the summer heat and winter frosts. In contrast, oceanic air brings rainfalls and reduces summer temperatures. In the lowlands and valleys, there is often fog, especially in winter.

Spring starts with 21 March and is characterised by colder weather with an average daily temperature of {{convert|9|C}} in the first weeks and about {{convert|14|C}} in May and {{convert|17|C}} in June. In Slovakia, the weather and climate in the spring are very unstable.

Summer starts on 22 June and is usually characterised by hot weather with daily temperatures exceeding {{convert|30|C}}. July is the warmest month with temperatures up to about {{convert|37|to|40|C}}, especially in regions of southern Slovakia. Showers or thunderstorms may occur because of the summer monsoon called Medardova kvapka (Medard drop – 40 days of rain). Summer in Northern Slovakia is usually mild with temperatures around {{convert|25|C}} (less in the mountains).

Autumn in Slovakia starts on 23 September and is mostly characterised by wet weather and wind, although the first weeks can be very warm and sunny. The average temperature in September is around {{convert|14|C}}, in November to {{convert|3|C}}. Late September and early October is a dry and sunny time of year (so-called [[Indian summer]]).

Winter starts on 21 December with temperatures around {{convert|-5|to|-10|C}}. In December and January, it is usually snowing, these are the coldest months of the year. At lower altitudes, snow does not stay the whole winter, it changes into the thaw and frost. Winters are colder in the mountains, where the snow usually lasts until March or April and the night temperatures fall to {{convert|-20|C}} and colder.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slovensko.com/about/weather-climate|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071026021233/http://www.slovensko.com/about/weather-climate|archive-date=26 October 2007 |title=Based on the "Climate" article from |publisher=www.slovensko.com |access-date=10 September 2013}}</ref>

=== Biodiversity ===
[[File:Vysoké Tatry, Dolina Bielej vody, cestou od Zeleného plesa na Jahňací štít (32).JPG|thumb|''[[Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica]]'' in the [[Tatra Mountains]]]]
Slovakia signed the Rio [[Convention on Biological Diversity]] on 19&nbsp;May 1993, and became a party to the convention on 25&nbsp;August 1994.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbd.int/convention/parties/list/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110124005746/http://www.cbd.int/convention/parties/list/|archive-date=24 January 2011 |title=List of Parties |access-date=8 December 2012}}</ref> It has subsequently produced a [[Biodiversity action plan|National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan]], which was received by the convention on 2&nbsp;November 1998.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbd.int/doc/world/sk/sk-nbsap-01-p1-en.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080721013840/https://www.cbd.int/doc/world/sk/sk-nbsap-01-p1-en.pdf|archive-date=21 July 2008 |title=National Biodiversity Strategy of Slovakia |access-date=8 December 2012}}</ref>

The biodiversity of Slovakia comprises [[animal]]s (such as annelids, arthropods, molluscs, nematodes and vertebrates), [[fungi]] ([[Ascomycota]], [[Basidiomycota]], [[Chytridiomycota]], [[Glomeromycota]] and [[Zygomycota]]), micro-organisms (including [[Mycetozoa]]), and [[plant]]s. The geographical position of Slovakia determines the richness of the diversity of fauna and flora. More than 11,000 plant species have been described throughout its territory, nearly 29,000 animal species and over 1,000 species of protozoa. [[Endemism|Endemic]] biodiversity is also common.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://geography.upol.cz/soubory/lide/smolova/RGSR/ucebnice/fg/biota.html|title=Regionální geografie Slovenska – elektronická učebnice|website=geography.upol.cz|access-date=28 September 2019|archive-date=26 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526212050/https://geography.upol.cz/soubory/lide/smolova/RGSR/ucebnice/fg/biota.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Belianske Tatry.jpg|thumb|[[Belianske Tatras]]]]

Slovakia is located in the biome of [[temperate broadleaf and mixed forest]]s and terrestrial ecoregions of [[Pannonian mixed forests]] and [[Carpathian montane conifer forests]].<ref name="DinersteinOlson2017">{{cite journal|last1=Dinerstein|first1=Eric|last2=Olson|first2=David|last3=Joshi|first3=Anup|last4=Vynne|first4=Carly|last5=Burgess|first5=Neil D.|last6=Wikramanayake|first6=Eric|last7=Hahn|first7=Nathan|last8=Palminteri|first8=Suzanne|last9=Hedao|first9=Prashant|last10=Noss|first10=Reed|last11=Hansen|first11=Matt|last12=Locke|first12=Harvey|last13=Ellis|first13=Erle C|last14=Jones|first14=Benjamin|last15=Barber|first15=Charles Victor|last16=Hayes|first16=Randy|last17=Kormos|first17=Cyril|last18=Martin|first18=Vance|last19=Crist|first19=Eileen|last20=Sechrest|first20=Wes|last21=Price|first21=Lori|last22=Baillie|first22=Jonathan E. M.|last23=Weeden|first23=Don|last24=Suckling|first24=Kierán|last25=Davis|first25=Crystal|last26=Sizer|first26=Nigel|last27=Moore|first27=Rebecca|last28=Thau|first28=David|last29=Birch|first29=Tanya|last30=Potapov|first30=Peter|last31=Turubanova|first31=Svetlana|last32=Tyukavina|first32=Alexandra|last33=de Souza|first33=Nadia|last34=Pintea|first34=Lilian|last35=Brito|first35=José C.|last36=Llewellyn|first36=Othman A.|last37=Miller|first37=Anthony G.|last38=Patzelt|first38=Annette|last39=Ghazanfar|first39=Shahina A.|last40=Timberlake|first40=Jonathan|last41=Klöser|first41=Heinz|last42=Shennan-Farpón|first42=Yara|last43=Kindt|first43=Roeland|last44=Lillesø|first44=Jens-Peter Barnekow|last45=van Breugel|first45=Paulo|last46=Graudal|first46=Lars|last47=Voge|first47=Maianna|last48=Al-Shammari|first48=Khalaf F.|last49=Saleem|first49=Muhammad|display-authors=1|title=An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm|journal=BioScience|volume=67|issue=6|year=2017|pages=534–545|issn=0006-3568|doi=10.1093/biosci/bix014|pmid=28608869|pmc=5451287|doi-access=free}}</ref> As the altitude changes, the vegetation associations and animal communities are forming height levels ([[oak]], [[beech]], [[spruce]], [[scrub pine]], [[alpine meadows]] and [[subsoil]]). Forests cover 44% of the territory of Slovakia.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tasr.sk/|title=Tlačová agentúra Slovenskej republiky – TASR.sk|website=www.tasr.sk|access-date=28 September 2019|archive-date=12 January 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112181205/http://www.tasr.sk/|url-status=live}}</ref> The country had a 2019 [[Forest Landscape Integrity Index]] mean score of 4.34/10, ranking it 129th globally out of 172 countries.<ref name="FLII-Supplementary">{{cite journal|last1=Grantham|first1=H. S.|last2=Duncan|first2=A.|last3=Evans|first3=T. D.|last4=Jones|first4=K. R.|last5=Beyer|first5=H. L.|last6=Schuster|first6=R.|last7=Walston|first7=J.|last8=Ray|first8=J. C.|last9=Robinson|first9=J. G.|last10=Callow|first10=M.|last11=Clements|first11=T.|last12=Costa|first12=H. M.|last13=DeGemmis|first13=A.|last14=Elsen|first14=P. R.|last15=Ervin|first15=J.|last16=Franco|first16=P.|last17=Goldman|first17=E.|last18=Goetz|first18=S.|last19=Hansen|first19=A.|last20=Hofsvang|first20=E.|last21=Jantz|first21=P.|last22=Jupiter|first22=S.|last23=Kang|first23=A.|last24=Langhammer|first24=P.|last25=Laurance|first25=W. F.|last26=Lieberman|first26=S.|last27=Linkie|first27=M.|last28=Malhi|first28=Y.|last29=Maxwell|first29=S.|last30=Mendez|first30=M.|last31=Mittermeier|first31=R.|last32=Murray|first32=N. J.|last33=Possingham|first33=H.|last34=Radachowsky|first34=J.|last35=Saatchi|first35=S.|last36=Samper|first36=C.|last37=Silverman|first37=J.|last38=Shapiro|first38=A.|last39=Strassburg|first39=B.|last40=Stevens|first40=T.|last41=Stokes|first41=E.|last42=Taylor|first42=R.|last43=Tear|first43=T.|last44=Tizard|first44=R.|last45=Venter|first45=O.|last46=Visconti|first46=P.|last47=Wang|first47=S.|last48=Watson|first48=J. E. M.|display-authors=1|title=Anthropogenic modification of forests means only 40% of remaining forests have high ecosystem integrity – Supplementary Material|journal=Nature Communications|volume=11|issue=1|year=2020|page=5978|issn=2041-1723|doi=10.1038/s41467-020-19493-3|pmid=33293507|pmc=7723057|bibcode=2020NatCo..11.5978G |doi-access=free}}</ref> In terms of forest stands, 60% are [[broadleaf trees]] and 40% are [[coniferous trees]]. The occurrence of animal species is strongly connected to the appropriate types of plant associations and biotopes.<ref name=":0"/>

Over 4,000 species of fungi have been recorded from Slovakia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cybertruffle.org.uk/robigalia/eng |title=Cybertruffle's Robigalia. Observations of fungi and their associated organisms |access-date=8 December 2012 |archive-date=31 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531115710/http://www.cybertruffle.org.uk/robigalia/eng/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Pavel Lizoň & Kamila Bacigálová, ''Huby – Fungi'' in F. Hindák [ed.] Checklist of Non-vascular and Vascular Plants of Slovakia (Bratislava, 1998), pp. 102–227.</ref> Of these, nearly 1,500 are [[lichen]]-forming species.<ref>Ivan Pišút, ''Lichenizované Huby (Lišajníky) – Lichen-forming Fungi (Lichens)'' in F. Hindák [ed.] Checklist of Non-vascular and Vascular Plants of Slovakia (Bratislava, 1998), pp. 229–295.</ref> Some of these fungi are undoubtedly endemic, but not enough is known to say how many. Of the lichen-forming species, about 40% have been classified as threatened in some way. About 7% are apparently extinct, 9% endangered, 17% vulnerable, and 7% rare. The conservation status of non-lichen-forming fungi in Slovakia is not well documented, but there is a red list for its larger fungi.<ref>Pavel Lizoň, ''Threatened macrofungi in Slovakia'' Biologia (Bratislava) 50: 9–12(1995).</ref>

=== Water ===
[[File:Mountain lake (Unsplash).jpg|thumb|right|Mountain lake [[Štrbské pleso]]]]

The entire population of Slovakia has access to a safe-drinking water source.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/water-over-gold-new-slovak-fairy-tale|title=Water over gold. New Slovak fairy-tale?|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> The country has one of the best quality tap water in the world, it is the second country in Europe (after [[Austria]]) with the largest reserves of drinking water. Groundwater is the drinking water source of the highest quality protected by [[Constitution of Slovakia]]. Since 2014, it is banned the export of [[drinking water|drinking]] and [[mineral water]]s in pipelines and water tanks. The ban excludes bottled water and water for personal use. Both, groundwater (82.2%) as well as surface water (17.8%) are exploited as drinking water sources. [[Žitný ostrov]] is the biggest natural groundwater source in Slovakia and as well in Central Europe.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sdgs.un.org/partnerships/water-over-gold-protection-zitny-ostrov|title=Water over gold. Protection of Žitný ostrov|website=Sustainable Development Goals – the United Nations}}</ref>

About 1300 mineral sources are registered, providing curative water and high quality [[mineral water]] for drinking. There are 21 thermal [[spa town]]s built on these mineral springs. The most visited are [[Piešťany]], [[Trenčianske Teplice]], [[Bardejov]] and [[Dudince]].

== Government and politics ==
{{Main|Politics of Slovakia|Law of Slovakia}}
{{See also|Prime Minister of Slovakia|President of Slovakia|National Council of the Slovak Republic}}

{{multiple image
| caption_align     = center
| image1            = Robert Fico, Nov 2023.jpg
| width1            = 129
| caption1          = [[Robert Fico]],<br /><small>[[Prime Minister of Slovakia|Prime Minister]]<br />since 2023</small>
| image2            = Peter Pellegrini, 2024.jpg
| width2            = 132
| caption2          = [[Peter Pellegrini]],<br /><small>[[File:Flag of the President of Slovakia.svg|20x20px]] [[President of Slovakia|President]]<br />since 2024</small>
}}

Slovakia is a [[Parliamentary system|parliamentary democratic]] republic with a [[multi-party system]]. The last [[2023 Slovak parliamentary election|parliamentary elections]] were held on 30&nbsp;September 2023 and two rounds of [[2024 Slovak presidential election|presidential elections]] took place on 23&nbsp;March and 6&nbsp;April 2024.

The Slovak [[head of state]] and the formal head of the executive is the president (currently [[Peter Pellegrini]]), though with very limited powers. The president is elected by direct, popular vote under the [[two-round system]] for a five-year term. Most [[Executive (government)|executive]] power lies with the [[head of government]], the prime minister (currently [[Robert Fico]]), who is usually the leader of the winning party and who needs to form a majority coalition in the parliament. The prime minister is appointed by the president. The remainder of the cabinet is appointed by the president on the recommendation of the prime minister.

Slovakia's highest [[Legislature|legislative]] body is the 150-seat [[Unicameralism|unicameral]] [[National Council (Slovakia)|National Council of the Slovak Republic]] (''Národná rada Slovenskej republiky''). Delegates are elected for a four-year term on the basis of [[proportional representation]].

Slovakia's highest [[Judiciary|judicial body]] is the [[Constitutional Court of Slovakia]] (''Ústavný súd''), which rules on constitutional issues. The 13&nbsp;members of this court are appointed by the president from a slate of candidates nominated by parliament.

The [[Constitution of Slovakia|Constitution of the Slovak Republic]] was ratified 1&nbsp;September 1992, and became effective 1&nbsp;January 1993. It was amended in September 1998 to allow [[direct election]] of the president and again in February 2001 due to EU admission requirements. The [[Civil law (legal system)|civil law system]] is based on Austro-Hungarian codes. The [[Code of law|legal code]] was modified to comply with the obligations of [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe|Organisation on Security and Cooperation in Europe]] (OSCE) and to expunge the [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] [[Law|legal theory]]. Slovakia accepts the compulsory [[International Court of Justice]] jurisdiction with reservations.

{{office-table}}
|[[President of Slovakia|President]]
|[[Peter Pellegrini]]
|[[Independent politician|Independent]]
|15 June 2024<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/06/15/peter-pellegrini-is-sworn-in-as-slovakias-new-president|title=Peter Pellegrini is sworn in as Slovakia's new president|date=15 June 2024|website=Euronews}}</ref>
|-
|[[Prime Minister of Slovakia|Prime Minister]]
|[[Robert Fico]]
|[[Direction – Social Democracy]]
|25 October 2023<ref name="reuters.com"/>
|-
|[[List of speakers of Slovak parliaments|Speaker of the National Council]]
|[[Richard Raši]]
|[[Voice – Social Democracy]]
|26 March 2025<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nrsr.sk/web/Default.aspx?sid=udalosti/udalost&MasterID=57107|title=NRSR: Predsedom parlamentu sa stal R. Raši, v tajnej voľbe získal 79 hlasov|date=26 March 2025|language=sk|website=Národná rada Slovenskej republiky}}</ref>
|}

{{multiple image
 | align = center
 | total_width = 650
 | image1 = Grassalkovich Palace (2).jpg
 | caption1 = [[Grassalkovich Palace]] in [[Bratislava]] is the seat of the [[President of Slovakia]]
 | image2 = Bratislava, Parlament, Slovensko.jpg
 | caption2 = The [[National Council (Slovakia)|National Council]] building in [[Bratislava]]
 | image3 = Bratislava, Letný arcibiskupský palác, Slovensko.jpg
 | caption3 = [[Episcopal Summer Palace, Bratislava|Episcopal Summer Palace]], the seat of the [[government of Slovakia]]
}}

=== Foreign relations ===
{{Main|Foreign relations of Slovakia}}
{{See also|Minister of Foreign and European Affairs|List of diplomatic missions of Slovakia}}

[[File:President Trump Welcomes the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic to the White House (33889395928).jpg|thumb|Former Slovak Prime Minister [[Peter Pellegrini]] (current President of Slovakia) with U.S. President [[Donald Trump]] in the [[White House]], 2019]]

The [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Slovakia)|Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs]] ({{langx|sk|Ministerstvo zahraničných vecí a európskych záležitostí}}) is responsible for maintaining the Slovak Republic's [[Foreign relations of Slovakia|external relations]] and the management of its [[List of diplomatic missions of Slovakia|international diplomatic missions]]. The ministry's [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (Slovakia)|director]] is [[Juraj Blanár]]. The ministry oversees Slovakia's affairs with foreign entities, including bilateral relations with individual nations and its representation in international organisations.

Slovakia joined the [[European Union]] and [[NATO]] in 2004, the [[Schengen Area]] in 2007 and the [[eurozone]] in 2009.

Slovakia is a member of the [[United Nations]] (since 1993) and participates in its specialised agencies. The country was, on 10&nbsp;October 2005, elected to a two-year term on the [[United Nations Security Council|UN Security Council]] from 2006 to 2007. It is also a member of the [[Council of Europe]] (CoE), the [[Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe|Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe]] (OSCE), the [[World Trade Organization|World Trade Organisation]] (WTO), the [[World Health Organization]] (WHO), the [[OECD|Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development]] (OECD), the [[International Monetary Fund]] (IMF), the [[Union for the Mediterranean]] (UfM), the [[International Criminal Police Organization|International Criminal Police Organisation]] (INTERPOL), the [[United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization|United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation]] (UNESCO), the [[European Organization for Nuclear Research|European Organisation for Nuclear Research]] (CERN), the [[Bucharest Nine]] (B9) and part of the [[Visegrád Group]] (V4: Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland).

[[File:President Putin meeting PM of Slovakia Robert Fico (2025).jpg|thumb|Slovak Prime Minister [[Robert Fico]] with Russian President [[Vladimir Putin]] in [[Beijing]], 2025]]

In 2025, Slovak citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 185 countries and territories, putting the [[Slovak passport]] at the 6th rank of travel freedom (tied with Hungary, Malta, New Zealand, Poland and Slovenia) on the [[Henley Passport Index]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Global Ranking&nbsp;– Visa Restriction Index 2025|url=https://www.henleyglobal.com/passport-index/ranking|access-date=9 November 2025}}</ref>

Slovakia maintains [[Diplomacy|diplomatic relations]] with 134 countries, primarily through its [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Slovakia)|Ministry of Foreign Affairs]]. Slovakia maintained 90 missions abroad, including 64 embassies, seven missions to multilateral organisations, nine consulates-general, one consular office, one Slovak Economic and Cultural Office and eight Slovak Institutes.<ref>SITA. [http://www.webnoviny.sk/slovensko/slovensko-ma-velvyslanectvo-v-spojeny/763136-clanok.html "Slovensko má veľvyslanectvo v Spojených arabských emirátoch"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161001182524/http://www.webnoviny.sk/slovensko/slovensko-ma-velvyslanectvo-v-spojeny/763136-clanok.html |date=1 October 2016 }}, ''WebNoviny.sk'', Bratislava, 1 December 2013. Retrieved on 29 April 2014.</ref> Bratislava hosts 41 foreign [[diplomatic mission|embassies]] and 22 [[consul (representative)|consulates]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://embassies.net/slovakia/bratislava|title=Embassies in Bratislava|date=14 December 2024|website=Embassies.net}}</ref>

Largest trading partners are countries of the European Union. In 2024, more than 80% of Slovak exports went to the [[European Union]], and more than 65% of Slovak imports came from other European Union member states.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=https://slovak.statistics.sk/wps/portal/ext/products/informationmessages/inf_sprava_detail/76bd0773-1762-4ec2-b293-5bf75c881af2/!ut/p/z1/tVJNc4IwFPwtHjxm8vgMHoNTAYtMQQHh0gFEpSigZGjtr2-ovfSg2ENzSTKz-3b3vYdjvMZxlXTFLmFFXSUH_o9i9dUllqbrAgXQbQms-fPSMacz0fAVHP4GaI73BNaKvhjeXBZAVnB8nx_gGMdZxRq2x1GdtsketSUqqi1KSjYG_qjPR-6mq3LUNueku4yha3NW8puo6QYIkZBAVBHJeSaiVJxISEm3RMk0TUi2Yl--yYoNjh5Ch0N5-zhw41D44U8NasrEBtBsQwGLmr43cSUJqDTUjiv_jsAgP_6G3HMwlOEKoK7rLu0gACMQZ2BJggGO73NJdQCwUnHEU5CbNgWCw67I37Ff9bM94OUfh2QCng81gi9u8XY6xZRvV12x_IPh9X-sF9cRz4vpYscTJGzfl67x-iFqc_SPmnQpClR65qfuICPUWjoafQEbqweL/dz/d5/L0lDUmlTUSEhL3dHa0FKRnNBLzROV3FpQSEhL2Vu/#:~:text=79.2%25%20of%20the%20Slovak%20exports,member%20states%20decreased%20by%2016.7%25.|title=Foreign trade – preliminary results in March and detailed data in the first two months of 2024|date=9 May 2024|website=Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic}}</ref>

Slovakia and the [[United States]] retain strong diplomatic ties and cooperate in the [[military]] and [[Law enforcement agency|law enforcement]] areas. U.S. Department of Defence programmes has contributed significantly to Slovak military reforms. The two countries have a long history tracing back to the [[American Revolutionary War]], when a Slovak Major, Ján Ladislav Polerecký, fought alongside [[George Washington]] in [[Siege of Yorktown|Yorktowne]] to win the colonies' independence.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/c/20551775/what-connects-americans-and-slovaks.html|title=What connects Americans and Slovaks|date=13 June 2017|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref> 
President [[Woodrow Wilson]] and the United States played a major role in the establishment of the original [[First Czechoslovak Republic|Czechoslovak]] state on 28&nbsp;October 1918. Around one million Americans have their roots in Slovakia, and many retain strong cultural and familial ties to the Slovak Republic. American steel producer [[U. S. Steel]] is the largest employer in Eastern Slovakia in [[U. S. Steel Košice, s.r.o.|Košice]] with 12,000 employees.

=== Military ===
{{Main|Slovak Armed Forces}}
{{See also|Slovak Air Force}}

[[File:UNFICYP peacekeepers patrolling the buffer zone.jpg|thumb|Slovak members of [[UNFICYP]] peacekeepers patrolling the [[United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus|buffer zone]] in Cyprus]]

The president is formally the [[commander-in-chief]] of the Slovak armed forces.

Slovakia joined [[NATO]] in March 2004.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nato.int/docu/update/2004/03-march/e0329a.htm |title=NATO Update: Seven new members join NATO |publisher=Nato.int |date=26 March 2004 |access-date=10 September 2013 |archive-date=15 March 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140315110351/http://www.nato.int/docu/update/2004/03-march/e0329a.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> From 2006, the army transformed into a fully professional organisation and compulsory military service was abolished. Slovak armed forces numbered 19,500 uniformed personnel and 4,208 civilians in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www1.pluska.sk/spravy/z-domova/vlada-predstavila-novy-plan-toto-udeje-bezpecnostnymi-silami|title=Vláda predstavila nový plán: Toto sa udeje s bezpečnostnými silami!|date=7 January 2021|access-date=8 November 2022|archive-date=8 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208225638/https://www1.pluska.sk/spravy/z-domova/vlada-predstavila-novy-plan-toto-udeje-bezpecnostnymi-silami|url-status=live}}</ref>

As of 2025, Slovakia has 240 military personnel deployed in [[Cyprus]] for [[UNFICYP]] [[United Nations]] led [[Peacekeeping|peace support operation]]s, 50 troops deployed in [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]] for [[EUFOR Althea]] and 135 troops deployed in [[Latvia]] for [[NATO Enhanced Forward Presence]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mosr.sk/operacie-europa-a-blizky-vychod/|title=Operácie – Európa a Blízky východ|date=7 January 2025|website=Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic}}</ref>

The Slovak [[Ground Forces of the Slovak Republic|Ground Forces]] are made up of two active [[mechanised infantry]] [[brigade]]s. The [[Slovak Air Force|Air and Air Defence Forces]] comprise one [[Wing (military unit)|wing]] of [[Fighter aircraft|fighters]], one wing of utility [[helicopter]]s, and one SAM brigade. Training and support forces comprise a National Support Element (Multifunctional Battalion, Transport Battalion, Repair Battalion), a garrison force of the capital city Bratislava, as well as a training battalion, and various logistics, communication, and information bases. Miscellaneous forces under the direct command of the [[Staff (military)|General Staff]] include the [[5th Special Operations Regiment (Slovakia)|5th Special Forces Regiment]].

=== Human rights ===
{{main|Human rights in Slovakia}}

Human rights in Slovakia are guaranteed by the [[Constitution of Slovakia]] from the year 1992 and by multiple international laws signed in Slovakia between 1948 and 2006.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mzv.sk/servlet/content?MT=/App/WCM/main.nsf/vw_ByID/zahranicna__politika&TG=BlankMaster&URL=/App/WCM/main.nsf/vw_ByID/medzinarodne_zmluvy-zmluvy_podla_predmetu&CTYPE=%C4%BDudsk%C3%A9%20pr%C3%A1va&OpenDocument=Y&LANG=SK&PAGE_VSETKYZMLUVY-DWMCEA-7XEM76=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515054034/http://www.mzv.sk/servlet/content?MT=%2FApp%2FWCM%2Fmain.nsf%2Fvw_ByID%2Fzahranicna__politika&TG=BlankMaster&URL=%2FApp%2FWCM%2Fmain.nsf%2Fvw_ByID%2Fmedzinarodne_zmluvy-zmluvy_podla_predmetu&CTYPE=%C4%BDudsk%C3%A9%20pr%C3%A1va&OpenDocument=Y&LANG=SK&PAGE_VSETKYZMLUVY-DWMCEA-7XEM76=1 |archive-date=15 May 2011 |title=Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia – list of international acts relating to human rights |publisher=Mzv.sk |access-date=10 September 2013}}</ref> Slovakia performs favourably in measurements of [[Freedom in the World|civil liberties]], [[Press Freedom Index|press freedom]], [[Internet censorship and surveillance by country|internet freedom]], [[Democracy Index|democratic governance]], and [[Global Peace Index|peacefulness]].

[[United States Department of State|The US State Department]] in 2021 reported:
<blockquote>The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were problems in some areas. Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: corruption; violence and threats of violence against Roma and members of other ethnic and racial minorities; and violence and threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex persons.<ref>U.S. Dept. of State, [https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/slovakia/ "2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Slovakia" 30 March 2023] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230206000511/https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/slovakia/ |date=6 February 2023 }}</ref></blockquote>

According to the [[European Roma Rights Centre]] (ERRC), [[Romani people in Slovakia]] "endure racism in the job market, housing and education fields and are often subjected to forced evictions, vigilante intimidation, disproportionate levels of police brutality and more subtle forms of discrimination."<ref>{{cite news |title=Life in Slovakia's Roma slums: Poverty and segregation |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/04/life-slovakia-roma-slums-poverty-segregation-170425090756677.html |work=Al-Jazeera |date=10 May 2017 |access-date=2 November 2019 |archive-date=4 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200904114517/https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/04/life-slovakia-roma-slums-poverty-segregation-170425090756677.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to [[International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance|International IDEA]]’s Global State of Democracy (GSoD) Indices and Democracy Tracker, Slovakia performs in the mid-range on overall democratic measures, with particular strengths in political equality and judicial independence.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Slovakia {{!}} The Global State of Democracy |url=https://www.idea.int/democracytracker/country/slovakia |access-date=2025-10-06 |website=www.idea.int |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Global State of Democracy Indices {{!}} The Global State of Democracy |url=https://www.idea.int/democracytracker/gsod-indices |access-date=2025-10-06 |website=www.idea.int}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Home {{!}} The Global State of Democracy |url=https://www.idea.int/democracytracker/ |access-date=2025-10-06 |website=www.idea.int}}</ref>

=== Administrative divisions ===
{{Main|Regions of Slovakia|Districts of Slovakia|List of municipalities and towns in Slovakia}}

[[File:Hlavné Namestie (35096533142).jpg|thumb|right|[[Bratislava]], capital and largest city of Slovakia]]
Slovakia is divided into 8 ''[[kraj]]e'' (singular—''kraj'', usually translated as "region"), each of which is named after its principal city. Regions have enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy since 2002. Their [[Self-governance|self-governing]] bodies are referred to as Self-governing (or autonomous) Regions (sg. ''samosprávny kraj'', pl. ''samosprávne kraje'') or Upper-Tier Territorial Units (sg. ''vyšší územný celok'', pl. ''vyššie územné celky'', abbr. VÚC).

The ''kraje'' are subdivided into ''[[okres]]y'' (sg. ''okres'', usually translated as districts). Slovakia currently has 79&nbsp;districts.

The ''okresy'' are further divided into {{lang|sk|[[List of municipalities and towns in Slovakia|obce]]}} (sg. {{lang|sk|obec}}, usually translated as "municipality"). There are currently 2,890 municipalities.

In terms of economics and [[unemployment]] rate, the western regions are richer than eastern regions. Bratislava is the 19th-richest region of the [[European Union]] by GDP (PPP) per capita;<ref>{{cite web |title=Regional gross domestic product (PPS per inhabitant) by NUTS 2 regions |url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/TGS00005/default/table |website=[[Eurostat]] |access-date=29 June 2023 |language=en |date=21 Feb 2023 |archive-date=13 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230713042916/https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/TGS00005/default/table |url-status=live }}</ref> GDP at purchasing power parity is about three times higher than in other Slovak regions.<ref name="finweb.hnonline.sk">{{cite web|url=https://finweb.hnonline.sk/ekonomika/919558-bratislava-je-treti-najbohatsi-region-unie|title=Bratislava je tretí najbohatší región únie. Ako je možné, že predbehla Londýn či Paríž?|website=finweb.hnonline.sk|date=March 2017|access-date=14 April 2019|archive-date=13 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211213235236/https://finweb.hnonline.sk/ekonomika/919558-bratislava-je-treti-najbohatsi-region-unie|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://laboureconomics.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/bratislava-capital-city-of-slovakia-versus-other-regions-of-slovak-republic/|title=Bratislava – capital city of Slovakia versus other regions of Slovak Republic|last=matejvician|date=29 April 2013|website=wordpress.com|access-date=14 April 2019|archive-date=14 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214000107/https://laboureconomics.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/bratislava-capital-city-of-slovakia-versus-other-regions-of-slovak-republic/|url-status=live}}</ref>

{|style="width:98%;"
|
{{Heraldic map of Slovakia}}
|
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Name in English
! Name in Slovak
! Administrative seat
! Population (2021)
|-
|[[File:Coat of Arms of Bratislava Region.svg|x20px]] [[Bratislava Region]] || style="font-size:90%;" |''Bratislavský kraj'' || [[File:Coat of Arms of Bratislava.svg|x20px]] [[Bratislava]] || align="right" | 719,537
|-
|[[File:Coat of Arms of Trnava Region.svg|x20px]] [[Trnava Region]] || style="font-size:90%;" |''Trnavský kraj'' || [[File:Coat of Arms of Trnava.svg|x20px]] [[Trnava]] || align="right" | 566,008
|-
|[[File:Coat of Arms of Nitra Region.svg|x20px]] [[Nitra Region]] || style="font-size:90%;" |''Nitriansky kraj'' || [[File:Coat of Arms of Nitra.svg|x20px]] [[Nitra]] || align="right" | 677,900
|-
|[[File:Coat of Arms of Trenčín Region.svg|x20px]] [[Trenčín Region]] || style="font-size:90%;" |''Trenčiansky kraj'' || [[File:Coat of Arms of Trenčín.svg|x20px]] [[Trenčín]] || align="right" | 577,464
|-
|[[File:Coat of Arms of Žilina Region.svg|x20px]] [[Žilina Region]] || style="font-size:90%;" |''Žilinský kraj'' || [[File:Coat of Arms of Žilina.svg|x20px]] [[Žilina]] || align="right" | 691,613
|-
|[[File:Coat of Arms of Banská Bystrica Region.svg|x20px]] [[Banská Bystrica Region]] || style="font-size:90%;" |''Banskobystrický kraj'' || [[File:Coat of Arms of Banská Bystrica.svg|x20px]] [[Banská Bystrica]] || align="right" | 625,601
|-
|[[File:Coat of Arms of Prešov Region.svg|x20px]] [[Prešov Region]] || style="font-size:90%;" |''Prešovský kraj'' || [[File:Coat of Arms of Prešov.svg|x20px]] [[Prešov]] || align="right" | 808,931
|-
|[[File:Coat of Arms of Košice Region.svg|x20px]] [[Košice Region]] || style="font-size:90%;" |''Košický kraj'' || [[File:Coat of Arms of Košice.svg|x20px]] [[Košice]] || align="right" | 782,216
|}
|}

== Economy ==
{{Main|Economy of Slovakia}}
{{See also|Slovak euro coins}}
[[File:Nbs.jpg|upright|thumb|[[National Bank of Slovakia]] in Bratislava]]
Slovakia has a [[high-income country|high-income]] [[developed economies|developed economy]]. In 2025, with a population of only 5 million, it ranked as the [[List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita|46th richest country]] with a [[per capita GDP|per capita gross domestic product]] based on [[purchasing power parity]] of $44,081,<ref>{{cite web |title=World Economic Outlook Database, April 2023 |url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2023/April/weo-report?c=512,914,612,171,614,311,213,911,314,193,122,912,313,419,513,316,913,124,339,638,514,218,963,616,223,516,918,748,618,624,522,622,156,626,628,228,924,233,632,636,634,238,662,960,423,935,128,611,321,243,248,469,253,642,643,939,734,644,819,172,132,646,648,915,134,652,174,328,258,656,654,336,263,268,532,944,176,534,536,429,433,178,436,136,343,158,439,916,664,826,542,967,443,917,544,941,446,666,668,672,946,137,546,674,676,548,556,678,181,867,682,684,273,868,921,948,943,686,688,518,728,836,558,138,196,278,692,694,962,142,449,564,565,283,853,288,293,566,964,182,359,453,968,922,714,862,135,716,456,722,942,718,724,576,936,961,813,726,199,733,184,524,361,362,364,732,366,144,146,463,528,923,738,578,537,742,866,369,744,186,925,869,746,926,466,112,111,298,927,846,299,582,487,474,754,698,&s=PPPPC,&sy=2021&ey=2028&ssm=0&scsm=1&scc=0&ssd=1&ssc=0&sic=0&sort=country&ds=.&br=1 |date=11 April 2023 |website=IMF.org |publisher=[[International Monetary Fund]] |access-date=3 May 2023 |archive-date=18 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518174407/https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2023/April/weo-report?c=512,914,612,171,614,311,213,911,314,193,122,912,313,419,513,316,913,124,339,638,514,218,963,616,223,516,918,748,618,624,522,622,156,626,628,228,924,233,632,636,634,238,662,960,423,935,128,611,321,243,248,469,253,642,643,939,734,644,819,172,132,646,648,915,134,652,174,328,258,656,654,336,263,268,532,944,176,534,536,429,433,178,436,136,343,158,439,916,664,826,542,967,443,917,544,941,446,666,668,672,946,137,546,674,676,548,556,678,181,867,682,684,273,868,921,948,943,686,688,518,728,836,558,138,196,278,692,694,962,142,449,564,565,283,853,288,293,566,964,182,359,453,968,922,714,862,135,716,456,722,942,718,724,576,936,961,813,726,199,733,184,524,361,362,364,732,366,144,146,463,528,923,738,578,537,742,866,369,744,186,925,869,746,926,466,112,111,298,927,846,299,582,487,474,754,698,&s=PPPPC,&sy=2021&ey=2028&ssm=0&scsm=1&scc=0&ssd=1&ssc=0&sic=0&sort=country&ds=.&br=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> and the [[List of countries by GDP (nominal)|60th largest economy in the World]] with a GDP of $147,031 billion.<ref>{{Cite web |title=World Economic Outlook Database, April 2023 Edition |url=https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2023/April/weo-report?c=512,914,612,171,614,311,213,911,314,193,122,912,313,419,513,316,913,124,339,638,514,218,963,616,223,516,918,748,618,624,522,622,156,626,628,228,924,233,632,636,634,238,662,960,423,935,128,611,321,243,248,469,253,642,643,939,734,644,819,172,132,646,648,915,134,652,174,328,258,656,654,336,263,268,532,944,176,534,536,429,433,178,436,136,343,158,439,916,664,826,542,967,443,917,544,941,446,666,668,672,946,137,546,674,676,548,556,678,181,867,682,684,273,868,921,948,943,686,688,518,728,836,558,138,196,278,692,694,962,142,449,564,565,283,853,288,293,566,964,182,359,453,968,922,714,862,135,716,456,722,942,718,724,576,936,961,813,726,199,733,184,524,361,362,364,732,366,144,146,463,528,923,738,578,537,742,866,369,744,186,925,869,746,926,466,112,111,298,927,846,299,582,487,474,754,698,&s=PPPGDP,&sy=2021&ey=2028&ssm=0&scsm=1&scc=0&ssd=1&ssc=0&sic=0&sort=country&ds=.&br=1 |access-date=3 May 2023 |website=IMF.org |publisher=[[International Monetary Fund]] |language=en |archive-date=12 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412035530/https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2023/April/weo-report?c=512,914,612,171,614,311,213,911,314,193,122,912,313,419,513,316,913,124,339,638,514,218,963,616,223,516,918,748,618,624,522,622,156,626,628,228,924,233,632,636,634,238,662,960,423,935,128,611,321,243,248,469,253,642,643,939,734,644,819,172,132,646,648,915,134,652,174,328,258,656,654,336,263,268,532,944,176,534,536,429,433,178,436,136,343,158,439,916,664,826,542,967,443,917,544,941,446,666,668,672,946,137,546,674,676,548,556,678,181,867,682,684,273,868,921,948,943,686,688,518,728,836,558,138,196,278,692,694,962,142,449,564,565,283,853,288,293,566,964,182,359,453,968,922,714,862,135,716,456,722,942,718,724,576,936,961,813,726,199,733,184,524,361,362,364,732,366,144,146,463,528,923,738,578,537,742,866,369,744,186,925,869,746,926,466,112,111,298,927,846,299,582,487,474,754,698,&s=PPPGDP,&sy=2021&ey=2028&ssm=0&scsm=1&scc=0&ssd=1&ssc=0&sic=0&sort=country&ds=.&br=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> Its GDP per capita equalling 74% of the average of the European Union in 2023.<ref name="rich">[https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=GDP_per_capita,_consumption_per_capita_and_price_level_indices "GDP per capita in PPS, Eurostat"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007231653/https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=GDP_per_capita,_consumption_per_capita_and_price_level_indices |date=7 October 2023 }}, retrieved 3 May 2023.</ref> Major [[privatisation]]s are completed, the banking sector is almost completely in private hands, and foreign investment has risen.

In 2024, more than 80% of Slovak exports went to the [[European Union]], and more than 65% of Slovak imports came from other European Union member states.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Intra-EU_trade_in_goods_-_recent_trends|title=Intra-EU trade in goods – recent trends|access-date=8 July 2017|archive-date=3 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403154324/https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Intra-EU_trade_in_goods_-_recent_trends|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="auto1"/> Main export partners are Germany (23% of total exports), Czech Republic (12.4%), Poland (8.3%) and Austria (5.7%).

The country has difficulties addressing regional imbalances in wealth and employment.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pitt.edu/~votruba/qsonhist/regionalwealthslovakia.html#skpppmap |title=Regional Wealth |access-date=10 April 2010 |last=Votruba |first=Martin |work=Slovak Studies Program |publisher=University of Pittsburgh |archive-date=2 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602052022/http://www.pitt.edu/~votruba/qsonhist/regionalwealthslovakia.html#skpppmap }}</ref> GDP per capita ranges from 188% of EU average in Bratislava to 54% in Eastern Slovakia.<ref>"[https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/9618249/1-26022019-AP-EN.pdf/f765d183-c3d2-4e2f-9256-cc6665909c80] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190902020336/https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/9618249/1-26022019-AP-EN.pdf/f765d183-c3d2-4e2f-9256-cc6665909c80|date=2 September 2019}}." eurostat. Retrieved on 7 July 2019. "GDP per capita in 281 EU regions."</ref> Bratislava is the 19th-richest region of the [[European Union]] by GDP ([[Purchasing power parity|PPP]]) per capita.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Regional gross domestic product (PPS per inhabitant) by NUTS 2 regions |url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/TGS00005/default/table |access-date=27 July 2023 |website=ec.europa.eu |archive-date=13 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230713042916/https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/TGS00005/default/table |url-status=live }}</ref> Although regional income inequality is high, [[List of countries by home ownership rate|90% of citizens own their homes]].

[[File:Eurozone.svg|thumb|left|upright=0.75|Slovakia is part of the [[Schengen Area]], the EU single market, and since 2009, the [[eurozone]] (dark blue).]]

The country used to be dubbed the ''"[[Tatra Tiger]]"'' in the 2000s as it successfully transformed from a centrally [[planned economy]] to a market-driven economy and achieved, on average, roughly 6% per capita GDP growth each year from 2000 to 2008.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="Akadémiai Kiadó"/>

Unemployment, peaking at 19% at the end of 1999, decreased to 4.9% in 2019, lowest recorded rate in Slovak history.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spravy.pravda.sk/ekonomika/clanok/512728-historicke-cisla-nezamestnanosti-prvykrat-klesla-pod-5-percent/|title=Historické čísla nezamestnanosti, prvýkrát klesla pod 5 percent|date=20 May 2019|language=sk|access-date=25 May 2019|archive-date=25 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525085838/https://spravy.pravda.sk/ekonomika/clanok/512728-historicke-cisla-nezamestnanosti-prvykrat-klesla-pod-5-percent/|url-status=live}}</ref> Unemployment rate was 5.3% as per June 2025.<ref>{{Cite news |date=3 June 2025 |title=Nezamestnanosť na Slovensku klesla na historické minimum. Najvýraznejšia zmena nastala v Košickom kraji |trans-title=Unemployment in Slovakia has fallen to a historic low. The most significant change occurred in the Košice Region |url=https://spravy.stvr.sk/2025/06/nezamestnanost-na-slovensku-klesla-na-historicke-minimum-najvyraznejsia-zmena-nastala-v-kosickom-kraji |access-date=8 June 2025 |work=[[Radio and Television of Slovakia]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://slovak.statistics.sk/wps/portal/ext/products/informationmessages/inf_sprava_detail/!ut/p/z1/tZLBTuMwEIafhUOOzkziJHa5uQiadqtqaemW-oLc1GmybZyQeBN4e9zVXhALiANz8Yz0_6NvPAMS7kEa1ZcHZcvaqJOrtzJ5uGVTPh4HAnE8pzid_Vgt0qubcLKOYfNawBfLa5zeiZ-T5SwKMIpBfuz_BRJkZmxjC9jWu04VRBtSmpyoo_XQJXVbOZreaNI1reqfPew7bY_upUmotAuiNCKJgtBliJzschbwPNFJkOG5fZOVe9iyPd8H-Ug5TaxIxFVGnAhJnIeMJwnXXL8Z5y3veRx8JwQ6v_wruZqINGJzRzOfxDgV6Xo5uqUUBf0n-KDHIq0rDSttYOto2Ls0AYNNX-oB1ub8RydYfXHYFGH22X7cAZS_Hx-lcFuqjdVPFu6_Y00OpNxV_pBVPvqMM6SM8SiMRklM6ZlCmB3lB5CtznWrW_9P666zsLbpLj30cBgG_1DXh5P2u6OH_3MUdefgXwmhqdYVp8_kmIvhLi9OfbXhnbi4eAGwwskW/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/|title=Unemployment in the 3rd quarter of 2024|date=3 December 2024|website=Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic}}</ref>

The ratio of government debt to GDP in Slovakia reached 60.5% in 2024.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/slovakia/government-debt--of-nominal-gdp|title=Slovakia Government Debt: % of GDP|website=CEIC Data}}</ref>

A high dependence on global supply chains and energy imports makes the Slovak economy vulnerable to external shocks. As a consequence, the economy was hit hard by the global [[COVID-19 pandemic]] crisis (−3.3% decline in 2020), despite sizeable economic policy support. And after a strong recovery in 2021 (+4.8% growth), growth slowed down markedly in 2022 (+1.9%) and 2023 (+1.6%) as a result of the consequences of the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]], notably the subsequent [[International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War|EU sanctions on Russia]] and soaring energy prices.

[[File:Sky Park Bratislava.jpg|thumb|High-rise buildings in Bratislava's business districts]]
The Slovak government encourages foreign investment since it is one of the driving forces of the economy. Slovakia is an attractive country for [[Investment (macroeconomics)|foreign investors]] mainly because of its low wages, low tax rates, well educated [[labour force]], favourable geographic location in the heart of Central Europe, strong political stability and good international relations reinforced by the country's accession to the European Union. Some regions, mostly at the east of Slovakia have failed to attract major investment, which has aggravated regional disparities in many economic and social areas.

Slovakia adopted the [[euro]] currency on 1 January 2009 as the 16th member of the eurozone. The euro in Slovakia was approved by [[European Commission|the European commission]] on 7&nbsp;May 2008. The [[Slovak koruna]] was revalued on 28&nbsp;May 2008 to 30.126 for 1&nbsp;euro, which was also the exchange rate for the euro.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/feedarticle/7546478|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080601034210/http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7546478|archive-date=1 June 2008|title=Slovakia revalues currency ahead of euro entry|first=Marcin|last=Grajewski|work=The Guardian|date=28 May 2008|access-date=9 July 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7495169.stm|title=Slovak euro exchange rate is set|work=BBC News|date=8 July 2008|access-date=9 July 2010|archive-date=3 October 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081003071334/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7495169.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Slovakia ranks 45th out of 190 economies in terms of ease of doing business, according to the [[Ease of doing business index|2020 World Bank Doing Business Report]] and 59th out of the 67 countries and territories in terms of competitive economy, according to the [[World Competitiveness Yearbook|2024 World Competitiveness Yearbook Report]].

=== Industry ===
{{See also|Automotive industry in Slovakia}}
[[File:Kia-factory-slovakia.jpg|thumb|left|[[Kia]]'s car production plant in [[Žilina]]]]

Although Slovakia's GDP comes mainly from the tertiary (services) sector, the industrial sector also plays an important role within its economy. The main industry sectors are [[Automotive industry in Slovakia|car manufacturing]] and [[electrical engineering]]. Since 2007, Slovakia has been the world's largest producer of cars per capita,<ref name=Kia>{{cite web |url=http://www.industryweek.com/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=16083 |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20171010140003/http://www.industryweek.com/ |archive-date=10 October 2017 |title=Slovak Car Industry Production Almost Doubled in 2007 |publisher=Industryweek.com |date=9 April 2008 |access-date=16 October 2010 }}</ref> with a total of 1,080,000 cars manufactured in the country in 2023 alone.<ref name="spectator.sme.sk"/> 275,000 people are employed directly and indirectly
by the automotive industry.<ref name="sario.sk">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ta3.com/clanok/167071/slovensko-ostava-svetovym-lidrom-zverejnili-kolko-vyrobilo-aut|title=Slovensko ostáva svetovým lídrom. Zverejnili, koľko vyrobilo áut|website=TA3.com|language=sk|date=2020-01-10|access-date=2025-07-09}}</ref> There are currently four automobile assembly plants, with a fifth under construction: [[Volkswagen]]'s in [[Bratislava]] (models: [[Volkswagen Up]], [[Volkswagen Touareg]], [[Audi Q7]], [[Audi Q8]], [[Porsche Cayenne]], [[Lamborghini Urus]]), [[PSA Peugeot Citroën]]'s in [[Trnava]] (models: [[Peugeot 208]], [[Citroën C3 Picasso]]), [[Kia Motors]]' [[Kia Design and Manufacturing Facilities#Žilina Plant|Žilina Plant]] (models: [[Kia Cee'd]], [[Kia Sportage]], [[Kia Venga]]) and [[Jaguar Land Rover]]'s in [[Nitra]] (model: [[Land Rover Defender]], [[Land Rover Discovery#Third generation (L462; 2017–present)|Land Rover Discovery]]). [[Volvo]] will make electric cars at a new plant at the east of Slovakia, construction began in 2023 in [[Košice]], with series production starting in 2027.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/volvo-cars-delays-large-scale-production-new-plant-slovakia-2025-07-03/|title=Volvo Cars pushes back large-scale production at new Slovak plant to early 2027|date=3 July 2025|website=Reuters}}</ref> [[Hyundai Mobis]] in [[Žilina]] is the largest suppliers for the automotive industry in Slovakia.<ref name="etrend.sk">{{cite web|url=https://www.etrend.sk/trend-archiv/rok-2018/cislo-23/inteligentne-riesenia-pre-internu-logistiku.html|title=Takto funguje fabrika, v ktorej sa vyrába takmer polovica z každého auta žilinskej Kie|date=23 June 2018|access-date=10 May 2019|archive-date=10 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510153851/https://www.etrend.sk/trend-archiv/rok-2018/cislo-23/inteligentne-riesenia-pre-internu-logistiku.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The electronics manufacturing industry also thrives. [[Foxconn]] has a factory at [[Nitra]] for [[LCD television|LCD TV]] manufacturing, [[Samsung Group|Samsung]] at [[Galanta]] for [[computer monitor]]s and television sets manufacturing. Steel producer [[U. S. Steel Košice, s.r.o.|U. S. Steel]] in [[Košice]] is the largest employer in the east of Slovakia with 12,000 employees.

[[ESET]] is an IT security company from Bratislava with more than 1,000<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pressreleasepoint.com/eset-achieves-another-milestone-more-1000-employees-globally |title=ESET Achieves Another Milestone: More Than 1000 Employees Globally |publisher=PressReleasePoint |access-date=23 April 2015 |archive-date=11 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911042224/http://www.pressreleasepoint.com/eset-achieves-another-milestone-more-1000-employees-globally |url-status=live }}</ref> employees worldwide at present. Their branch offices are in the United States, Ireland, United Kingdom, Argentina, the [[Czech Republic]], [[Singapore]] and Poland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.eset.com/me/about/profile/history/|title=About ESET: Company Profile: History|publisher=ESET|access-date=1 July 2011|archive-date=29 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929040632/http://www.eset.com/me/about/profile/history/}}</ref> In recent years, [[Tertiary sector of the economy|service]] and [[High tech|high-tech]]-oriented businesses have prospered in Bratislava. Many global companies, including [[IBM]], [[Dell]], [[Lenovo]], [[AT&T]], [[SAP AG|SAP]], and [[Accenture]], have built [[outsourcing]] and service centres here.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency |url=http://www.sario.sk/?news&novinka=58 |title=Lenovo invests in Slovakia with new jobs |date=20 April 2006 |access-date=25 April 2007 |archive-date=17 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070217183957/http://www.sario.sk/?news&novinka=58 |url-status=live }}. {{cite web |publisher=Dell |url=http://www.job.dell.sk/buxus/generate_page.php?page_id=398 |title=Dell in Bratislava |year=2007 |access-date=25 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927191504/http://www.job.dell.sk/buxus/generate_page.php?page_id=398 |archive-date=27 September 2007 }}</ref> Reasons for the influx of [[Multinational corporation|multi-national corporations]] include proximity to Western Europe, skilled labour force and the high density of universities and research facilities.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Regional Polarization under Transition: The Case of Slovakia |first=Vladimír |last=Baláž |year=2007 |journal=European Planning Studies |volume=15 |issue=5 |pages=587–602 |doi=10.1080/09654310600852639|bibcode=2007EurPS..15..587B |s2cid=154927365 }}</ref> Other large companies and employers with headquarters in Bratislava include [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]], [[Slovak Telekom]], [[Orange Slovensko]], [[Slovenská sporiteľňa]], [[Tatra banka]], [[Doprastav]], [[Hewlett-Packard]] Slovakia, [[Henkel]] Slovensko, [[Slovenský plynárenský priemysel]], [[Microsoft]] Slovakia, [[Mondelez International|Mondelez Slovakia]], [[Whirlpool Corporation|Whirlpool Slovakia]] and [[Zurich Insurance Group]] Slovakia.

Bratislava's geographical position in Central Europe has long made Bratislava a crossroads for [[international trade]] traffic.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9273337/Bratislava,-Slovakia|title=Bratislava in Encyclopædia Britannica|year=2007|access-date=30 April 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012145432/http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9273337/Bratislava,-Slovakia|archive-date=12 October 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|publisher=City of Bratislava |url=http://www.visit.bratislava.sk/en/vismo/dokumenty2.asp?id_org=700014&id=1088&p1=1800 |title=MIPIM 2007 – Other Segments |year=2007 |access-date=30 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611190123/http://visit.bratislava.sk/en/vismo/dokumenty2.asp?id_org=700014&id=1088&p1=1800 |archive-date=11 June 2007}}</ref> Various ancient [[trade route]]s, such as the [[Amber Road]] and the [[Danube]] waterway, have crossed territory of present-day Bratislava. Today, Bratislava is a road, railway, waterway and airway hub.<ref name="transport">{{cite web|publisher=City of Bratislava |url=http://www.visit.bratislava.sk/en/vismo/dokumenty2.asp?id_org=700014&id=1047&p1=1815 |title=Transport and Infrastructure |year=2007 |access-date=12 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070611185402/http://visit.bratislava.sk/en/vismo/dokumenty2.asp?id_org=700014&id=1047&p1=1815 |archive-date=11 June 2007}}</ref>

=== Energy ===
{{main|Energy in Slovakia}}

[[File:Jaslovske Bohunice Power Plant 1.JPG|thumb|Nuclear Power Plant [[Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant|Jaslovské Bohunice]]]]

Slovakia is self-sufficient in electricity production following the launch of the third unit of the Mochovce nuclear power plant in 2023.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/business/c/slovakia-has-clear-plan-to-remain-nuclear-energy-powerhouse|title=Slovakia has clear plan to remain "nuclear energy powerhouse|date=22 December 2023|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref>

In 2020, Slovakia produced a total of 29,322 [[GWh]] of [[electricity]]. [[Nuclear power|Nuclear energy]] accounted for 54% (15 400 GWh) of total electricity production, followed by 16% by [[hydro power]] energy, 16% natural gas, 8% coal, biofuel 3% and 3% by [[solar energy]],<ref name="worl823">{{cite web |title=Nuclear Power in Slovakia |url=https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-o-s/slovakia.aspx |date=August 2023 |access-date=29 August 2023 |archive-date=1 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901130259/https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-o-s/slovakia.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.energie-portal.sk/Dokument/kolko-elektriny-vyrabaju-slovenske-atomky-vodne-a-solarne-elektrarne-tu-su-cerstve-cisla-106931.aspx|title=Koľko elektriny vyrábajú slovenské atómky, vodné a solárne elektrárne? Tu sú čerstvé čísla|date=5 March 2021|website=Energie-portal.sk}}</ref>

The two nuclear power-plants in Slovakia are in [[Jaslovské Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant|Jaslovské Bohunice]] and [[Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant|Mochovce]]. Jaslovské Bohunice containing two operating reactors. Mochovce containing three operating reactors, unit Mochovce-3 came on-line in January 2023 and unit Mochovce-4 will be completed at the end of 2025.<ref name="worl823"/> The additional reactors in Mochovce returned Slovakia to being a net exporter of electricity.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mochovce 3 output increased to 55% |url=https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Mochovce-3-output-increased-to-55 |date=31 March 2023 |access-date=29 August 2023 |archive-date=29 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230829121027/https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Mochovce-3-output-increased-to-55 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.seas.sk/o-nas/nase-elektrarne/atomove-elektrarne/mochovce-34-vo-vystavbe/|title=Mochovce 3&4 construction|website=Slovenské Elektrárne}}</ref>

In 2024, Slovak government approved a plan to build another new nuclear reactor in [[Jaslovské Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant|Jaslovské Bohunice]].<ref>[https://apnews.com/article/slovakia-new-nuclear-reactor-jaslovske-bohunice-48b8cc3bd20bbf851133325357071524]." Associated Press. Retrieved on 4 June 2024. "Slovakia plans to build a new nuclear reactor."</ref>

[[File:Refinery of Slovnaft, view from Nový most viewpoint in Bratislava, Bratislava II District.jpg|thumb|[[Slovnaft]] oil refinery in Bratislava]]

[[Slovenský plynárenský priemysel]] (''Slovak Gas Industry'') is the biggest natural gas seller in Slovakia. In 2024, domestic gas production covers roughly 2% of Slovak consumption.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.trend.sk/spravy/spotreba-plynu-slovensku-bude-stagnovat-najblizsich-rokoch-nevratime-rekordom|title=Spotreba plynu na Slovensku bude stagnovať, v najbližších rokoch sa nevrátime k rekordom|date=25 August 2024|website=Trend}}</ref> An average of around 65 million m³ of natural gas is produced, while 4,2 billion m³ of natural gas is imported.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.energie-portal.sk/Dokument/tazba-plynu-na-slovensku-108369.aspx|title=Ťažba plynu na Slovensku bývala vyššia, zo súčasnej spotreby by pokryla aj 20 %|date=21 September 2022|website=Energie-portal.sk}}</ref> As of 2025, most of gas imports to Slovakia is from Russia via [[TurkStream]] pipeline. TurkStream connects Russia and Turkey, with gas flowing through the Balkans and Hungary before reaching Slovakia.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/business/c/slovakia-stays-loyal-to-gazprom-as-russian-gas-starts-flowing-via-turkstream|title=Slovakia stays loyal to Gazprom as Russian gas starts flowing via TurkStream|date=6 February 2025|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref>

The oil production in Slovakia is even lower than the gas production. In 2021 it reached a volume of 4,500 tons per year with a total oil consumption of around 6 million tons per year.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ceelegalmatters.com/oil-gas-2024/oil-gas-slovakia-2024|title=Oil & Gas Laws and Regulations in Slovakia (2024)|date=11 September 2024|website=CEE Legal Matters}}</ref> Among European Union countries, Slovakia is the most dependent on Russian oil and petroleum products.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cepconsult.com/publications/slovakia-needs-russian-oil/|title=Slovakia needs Russian oil|date=23 October 2024|website=Cepconsult}}</ref> In 2020, Russia was the origin country for 78 percent of the country's total oil imports. [[Slovnaft]], with 4,000 employees, is the largest oil refining company in Slovakia, located in Bratislava. The company refines 5.5 to 6 million tonnes of crude oil per annum and produces a broad range of motor fuels, fuel oils and petrochemical products.

=== Transportation ===
{{Main|Transport in Slovakia}}
[[File:Strbske Pleso pociag 425 2.jpg|thumb|A train in the northern town of [[Vysoké Tatry]]]]

There are four main motorway D1 to D4 and eight expressways R1 to R8. Many of them are still under construction.

The major motorway in Slovakia is [[Motorway D1 (Slovakia)|D1]], the motorway connects major cities across Slovakia from west to east, from Bratislava to [[Trnava]], [[Nitra]], [[Trenčín]], [[Žilina]] and beyond. As of 2025, some sections of D1 are still under construction. The [[Motorway D2 (Slovakia)|D2 motorway]] connects it to [[Prague]], [[Brno]] and [[Budapest]] in the north–south direction. A large part of [[Motorway D4 (Slovakia)|D4&nbsp;motorway]] (an outer bypass), which ease the pressure on Bratislava's highway system, opened in 2021.<ref>{{cite web|work=[[SME (newspaper)|SME]]|url=http://ekonomika.sme.sk/c/20365970/vystavba-bratislavskeho-obchvatu-oficialne-odstartovala.html|title=Érsek oficiálne spustil výstavbu bratislavského obchvatu|year=2016|access-date=14 November 2016|language=sk|archive-date=27 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161027205214/http://ekonomika.sme.sk/c/20365970/vystavba-bratislavskeho-obchvatu-oficialne-odstartovala.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Nordostautobahn|A6&nbsp;motorway]] to [[Vienna]] connects Slovakia directly to the Austrian motorway system and was opened on 19&nbsp;November 2007.<ref>{{cite web|work=[[Pravda (Slovakia)|Pravda]]|url=http://www.tvojepeniaze.sk/do-viedne-uz-netreba-ist-po-okresnej-ceste-fgy-/sk_pludia.asp?c=A071119_072754_sk_pludia_p01|title=Do Viedne už netreba ísť po okresnej ceste|year=2007|access-date=19 November 2007|language=sk|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080205010048/http://www.tvojepeniaze.sk/do-viedne-uz-netreba-ist-po-okresnej-ceste-fgy-/sk_pludia.asp?c=A071119_072754_sk_pludia_p01|archive-date=5 February 2008}}</ref>

[[File:Diaľnica D1. Prešov západ 21 Slovakia 13.jpg|thumb|[[Motorway D1 (Slovakia)|D1 motorway]]]]

Slovakia has three international airports. [[Bratislava Airport]] is the main and largest [[international airport]]. It is located 9&nbsp;km northeast of the city centre. It serves civil and governmental, scheduled and unscheduled domestic and international flights. The current runways support the landing of all common types of aircraft currently used. The airport has enjoyed rapidly growing passenger traffic in recent years; it served 279,028&nbsp;passengers in 2000 and 2,292,712 in 2018.<ref>{{cite web|work=Letisko M.R. Štefánika – Airport Bratislava |url=http://www.airportbratislava.sk/31.html |title=Letisko Bratislava – O letisku – Štatistické údaje (''Airport Bratislava – About airport – Statistical data'') |year=2008 |access-date=19 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903131836/http://www.airportbratislava.sk/31.html |archive-date=3 September 2011}}</ref> [[Košice International Airport]] is an airport serving [[Košice]]. It is the second-largest [[international airport]] in Slovakia. The [[Poprad–Tatry Airport]] is the third busiest airport, the airport is located 5&nbsp;km west-northwest of [[Poprad]]. It is an airport with one of the highest elevations in Central Europe, at 718 m, which is 150 m higher than [[Innsbruck Airport]] in Austria.

[[Railways of the Slovak Republic]] (''Železnice Slovenskej Republiky'') provides railway transport services on national and international lines.

The [[Port of Bratislava]] is one of the two international [[port|river ports]] in Slovakia. The port connects Bratislava to international boat traffic, especially the interconnection from the [[North Sea]] to the [[Black Sea]] via the [[Rhine–Main–Danube Canal|Rhine-Main-Danube Canal]].
Additionally, tourist boats operate from Bratislava's passenger port, including routes to [[Devín]], [[Vienna]] and elsewhere. The Port of Komárno is the second largest port in Slovakia with an area of over 20 hectares and is located approximately 100&nbsp;km east of Bratislava. It lies at the confluence of two rivers – the [[Danube]] and [[Váh]].

=== Tourism ===
{{Main|Tourism in Slovakia}}
{{See also|List of castles in Slovakia|List of World Heritage Sites in Slovakia}}

[[File:Bojnice Castle Slovakia.jpg|thumb|Bojnice Castle]]

Tourism is one of the main sectors of the Slovakia's economy, although still underserved. It is based on domestic tourism, as most of the tourists are the Slovak nationals and residents travelling for leisure within the country. Slovakia features natural landscapes, mountains, [[List of caves in Slovakia|caves]], medieval [[List of castles in Slovakia|castles]] and towns, folk architecture, spas and [[Ski and winter sports in Slovakia|ski resorts]]. More than 5,4 million tourists visited Slovakia in 2017. The most attractive destinations are the capital of [[Bratislava]] and the [[High Tatras]].<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Slovak Spectator|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/c/20834216/popularity-of-slovakia-as-a-tourist-destination-increases.html|title=Popularity of Slovakia as a tourist destination increases|date=24 May 2018|access-date=24 May 2018|archive-date=30 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230730092133/https://spectator.sme.sk/c/20834216/popularity-of-slovakia-as-a-tourist-destination-increases.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Most visitors come from the [[Czech Republic]] (about 26%), Poland (15%) and Germany (11%).<ref>[http://www.sacr.sk/odborna-verejnost/analyzy-a-statistiky/statistiky/?no_cache=1&cid=1163&did=9358&sechash=42ffab51 Top 15 krajín AZCR 2012–2015] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508215727/http://www.sacr.sk/odborna-verejnost/analyzy-a-statistiky/statistiky/?no_cache=1&cid=1163&did=9358&sechash=42ffab51 |date=8 May 2016}}. Slovenská Aagentúra pre Cestovný Ruch sacr.sk (March 2016)</ref>

Slovakia contains many castles, most of which are in ruins. The best known castles include [[Bojnice Castle]] (often used as a filming location), [[Spiš Castle]], (on the UNESCO list), [[Orava Castle]], [[Bratislava Castle]], and the ruins of [[Devín Castle]]. [[Čachtice Castle]] was once the home of the world's most prolific female serial killer, the 'Bloody Lady', [[Elizabeth Báthory]].
[[File:Bardejov, rynek (HB1).jpg|thumb|left|The centre of [[Bardejov]] – a [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]]]]

Slovakia's position in Europe and the country's past (part of the [[Kingdom of Hungary]], the [[Habsburg]] monarchy and [[Czechoslovakia]]) made many cities and towns similar to the cities in the [[Czech Republic]] (such as [[Prague]]), Austria (such as [[Salzburg]]) or Hungary (such as [[Budapest]]). A historical centre with at least one square has been preserved in many towns. Large historical centres can be found in [[Bratislava]], [[Trenčín]], [[Košice]], [[Banská Štiavnica]], [[Levoča]], and [[Trnava]]. Historical centres have been going through a restoration in recent years.

Historical churches can be found in virtually every village and town in Slovakia. Most of them are built in the [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] style, but there are also many examples of [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] and [[Gothic architecture]], for example [[Banská Bystrica]], Bardejov and [[Spišská Kapitula]]. The [[Basilica of St. James, Levoča|Basilica of St. James]] in Levoča with the tallest wood-carved altar in the world and the Church of the Holy Spirit in [[Žehra]] with medieval [[fresco]]s are UNESCO [[World Heritage Site]]s. The [[St. Martin's Concathedral]] in [[Bratislava]] served as the [[coronation]] church for the Kingdom of Hungary. The oldest sacral buildings in Slovakia stem from the [[Great Moravia]]n period in the ninth century.
[[File:Jasná Ski Resort - gondola lift Kosodrevina - Chopok (4).jpg|thumb|Cable cars at [[Jasná]] in the Tatra Mountains]]

Very precious structures are the complete wooden churches of northern and northern-eastern Slovakia. Most were built from the 15th century onwards by [[Catholic]]s, [[Lutheran]]s and members of [[Eastern Christianity|eastern-rite]] churches.

There are many castles located throughout the country. Among the tourists, some of the most popular are [[Bojnice Castle]], [[Spiš Castle]], [[Ľubovňa Castle|Stará Ľubovňa Castle]], [[Krásna Hôrka Castle]], [[Orava Castle]] (where many scenes of [[Nosferatu]] were filmed), [[Trenčín Castle]], and [[Bratislava Castle]], and also castles in ruins, such as [[Beckov Castle]], [[Devín Castle]], [[Šariš Castle]], [[Považský hrad|Považie Castle]], and [[Strečno Castle]] (where [[Dragonheart]] was filmed).

[[File:20180503 Zamek Spiski 2953 DxO.jpg|left|[[Spiš Castle]]|thumb]]
Slovakia is also known for its numerous spas. [[Piešťany]] is the biggest and busiest spa town in the country, attracting many visitors from the [[Arab states of the Persian Gulf|Gulf countries]], mostly the [[United Arab Emirates]], [[Qatar]], [[Kuwait]], and [[Bahrain]]. [[Bardejov]], [[Trenčianske Teplice]], [[Turčianske Teplice]], and [[Rajecké Teplice]] are other major spa towns. Some well-known minor spa towns and villages are [[Štós]], [[Číž]], [[Dudince]], [[Kováčová, Zvolen District|Kováčová]], [[Nimnica]], [[Smrdáky]], [[Lúčky, Ružomberok District|Lúčky]], and [[Vyšné Ružbachy]], among others.

Typical souvenirs from Slovakia are dolls dressed in folk costumes, ceramic objects, crystal glass, carved wooden figures, črpáks (wooden pitchers), [[fujara]]s (a [[folk instrument]] on the UNESCO list) and [[valaška]]s (a decorated folk hatchet) and above all products made from [[husk|corn husks]] and wire, notably human figures. Souvenirs can be bought in the shops run by the state organisation ÚĽUV (''Ústredie ľudovej umeleckej výroby''—Centre of [[Folk art|Folk Art]] Production).

=== Science ===
[[File:STANICA LANOVKY S OBSERVATÓRIOM.JPG|thumb|[[Observatory]] at the top of the peak [[Lomnický štít]], at the altitude above sea level of {{convert|2632|m|ft|abbr=on}}.]]

The [[Slovak Academy of Sciences]] has been the most important scientific and research institution in the country since 1953. Slovaks have made notable scientific and technical contributions during history.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rbinternational.com/en/raiffeisen/blog/technology/innovations-slovakia.html|title=6 Innovations from Slovakia That Changed the World|date=10 October 2023|website=Raiffeisen Bank International}}</ref> In 1999, astronaut [[Ivan Bella]], became the first and only Slovak citizen to fly in space.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://spectator.sme.sk/politics-and-society/c/the-first-and-only-slovak-astronaut-flew-into-space-20-years-ago|title=The first and only Slovak astronaut flew into space 20 years ago|date=20 February 2019|website=The Slovak Spectator}}</ref>

Observer status to [[European Space Agency]] (ESA) was granted in 2010, when Slovakia signed the General Agreement on Cooperation in which information about ongoing education programmes was shared and Slovakia was invited to various negotiations of the ESA.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://slovak.space/sr-a-vesmir/spolupraca-s-esa/|title=Spolupráca s ESA – Slovak Space Portal|work=Slovak Space Portal|access-date=5 November 2017|language=sk-SK|archive-date=7 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107032452/http://slovak.space/sr-a-vesmir/spolupraca-s-esa/}}</ref> In 2015, Slovakia signed the European Cooperating State Agreement based on which Slovakia committed to the finance entrance programme named PECS (Plan for the European Cooperating States) which serves as preparation for full membership. Slovak research and development organisations can apply for funding of projects regarding space technologies advancement. Slovakia became European Space Agency associate member state in 2022.<ref name="www.esa.int">{{Cite web |title=Slovakia becomes ESA Associate Member state |url=https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Corporate_news/Slovakia_becomes_ESA_Associate_Member_state |access-date=14 October 2022 |website=esa.int |language=en |archive-date=13 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221013201557/https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Corporate_news/Slovakia_becomes_ESA_Associate_Member_state |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2024, the country signed the [[Artemis Accords]] with [[NASA]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-welcomes-slovakia-as-new-artemis-accords-signatory/|title=NASA Welcomes Slovakia as New Artemis Accords Signatory|date=30 May 2024|website=nasa.gov}}</ref>

Slovakia was ranked 47th in the [[Global Innovation Index]] in 2025.<ref>{{Cite web |title=GII Innovation Ecosystems & Data Explorer 2025 |url=https://www.wipo.int/gii-ranking/en/slovakia |access-date=2025-10-16 |website=WIPO}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dutta |first1=Soumitra |url=https://www.wipo.int/web-publications/global-innovation-index-2025/en/index.html |title=Global Innovation Index 2025: Innovation at a Crossroads |last2=Lanvin |first2=Bruno |publisher=[[World Intellectual Property Organization]] |year=2025 |isbn=978-92-805-3797-0 |page=19 |language=en |doi=10.34667/tind.58864 |access-date=2025-10-17}}</ref>

== Demographics ==
{{Main|Demographics of Slovakia}}
{{further|List of Slovaks}}
{{Slovak municipality|pop}}
{{Largest cities|country=Slovakia|stat_ref=[https://www.scitanie.sk/obyvatelia/zakladne-vysledky/pocet-obyvatelov/SR/SK0/OB Štatistický úrad Slovenskej republiky – 1 January 2021]|div_name=Region|city_1=Bratislava|div_1=Bratislava Region{{!}}Bratislava|pop_1=475,503|city_2=Košice|div_2=Košice Region{{!}}Košice|pop_2=229,040|city_3=Prešov|div_3=Prešov Region{{!}}Prešov|pop_3=84,824|city_4=Žilina|div_4=Žilina Region{{!}}Žilina|pop_4=82,656|city_5=Nitra|div_5=Nitra Region{{!}}Nitra|pop_5=78,489|city_6=Banská Bystrica|div_6=Banská Bystrica Region{{!}}Banská Bystrica|pop_6=76 018|city_7=Trnava|div_7=Trnava Region{{!}}Trnava|pop_7=63,803|city_8=Trenčín|div_8=Trenčín Region{{!}}Trenčín|pop_8=54,740|city_9=Martin, Slovakia{{!}}Martin|div_9=Žilina Region{{!}}Žilina|pop_9=52,520|city_10=Poprad|div_10=Prešov Region{{!}}Prešov|pop_10=49,855|city_11=Prievidza|div_11=Trenčín Region{{!}}Trenčín|pop_11=45,017|city_12=Zvolen|div_12=Banská Bystrica Region{{!}}Banská Bystrica|pop_12=40,637|img_12=|city_13=Považská Bystrica|div_13=Trenčín Region{{!}}Trenčín|pop_13=38,641|city_14=Nové Zámky|div_14=Nitra Region{{!}}Nitra|pop_14=37,791|city_15=Michalovce|div_15=Košice Region{{!}}Košice|pop_15=36,704|city_16=Spišská Nová Ves|div_16=Košice Region{{!}}Košice|pop_16=35,431|city_17=Komárno|div_17=Nitra Region{{!}}Nitra|pop_17=32,967|img_17=|city_18=Levice|div_18=Nitra Region{{!}}Nitra|pop_18=31,974|city_19=Humenné|div_19=Prešov Region{{!}}Prešov|pop_19=31,359|city_20=Bardejov|div_20=Prešov Region{{!}}Prešov|pop_20=30,840}}[[File:Population density in Slovakia.png|thumb|Population density in Slovakia. The two biggest cities are clearly visible, Bratislava in the far west and Košice in the east.]]

The population is over 5.4 million and consists mostly of [[Slovaks]]. The average population density is 110 inhabitants per km<sup>2</sup>.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/slovakia/|title=Europe:: Slovakia — The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|access-date=28 July 2019|archive-date=19 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319021658/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/slovakia|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the 2021 census, the majority of the inhabitants of Slovakia are [[Slovaks]] (83.8%). [[Hungarians in Slovakia|Hungarians]] are the largest [[minority group|ethnic minority]] (7.8%). Other [[ethnic group]]s include [[Romani people|Roma]] (1.2%),<ref>{{cite web|title=Roma political and cultural activists estimate that the number of Roma in Slovakia is higher, citing a figure of 350,000 to 400,000|url=http://www.slovakia.org/society-roma.htm|publisher=Slovakia.org|access-date=25 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130822033250/http://www.slovakia.org/society-roma.htm|archive-date=22 August 2013}}</ref> [[Czechs]] (0.5%), [[Rusyns]] (0.4%) and others (1.9) or unspecified (5.4%).<ref>{{cite web|title=Census 2021|url=https://www.scitanie.sk/zilinsky-kraj-s-najvyssim-podielom-slovenskej-narodnosti|publisher=scitanie.sk|access-date=20 January 2022|archive-date=20 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220520011916/https://www.scitanie.sk/zilinsky-kraj-s-najvyssim-podielom-slovenskej-narodnosti|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2024, the [[median age]] of the Slovak population was 42.8 years.<ref>{{Citation |title=Slovakia |date=2025-05-14 |work=The World Factbook |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/slovakia/#people-and-society |access-date=2025-05-20 |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=en}}</ref>

The largest waves of Slovak emigration occurred in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the 1990 US&nbsp;census, 1.8&nbsp;million people self-identified as having Slovak ancestry.<ref>"[https://www.loc.gov/rr/european/imsk/slovakia.html The Slovaks in America] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220507031904/https://www.loc.gov/rr/european/imsk/slovakia.html |date=7 May 2022 }}". European Reading Room, Library of Congress.</ref>{{update inline|reason=There have been 3 censuses conducted since 1990, data from 2010 or 2020 would be more accurate|date=January 2022}}

In the 2024 Global Hunger Index, Slovakia is one of 22 countries with a GHI score of less than 5.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Global Hunger Index Scores by 2024 GHI Rank |url=https://www.globalhungerindex.org/ranking.html |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=Global Hunger Index (GHI) – peer-reviewed annual publication designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and country levels |language=en}}</ref>

=== Languages ===
{{Main|Slovak language}}
{{See also|History of the Slovak language}}
[[File:Slovak alphabet.png|thumb|upright=0.9|The [[Slovak alphabet]] has 46 letters, of which 3 are [[Digraph (orthography)|digraphs]] and 18 contain [[diacritic]]s.]]

The [[official language]] is [[Slovak language|Slovak]], a member of the [[Slavic languages|Slavic language family]]. [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] is widely spoken in the southern regions, and [[Rusyn language|Rusyn]] is used in some parts of the Northeast. [[Minority language]]s hold co-official status in the municipalities in which the size of the minority population meets the legal threshold of 15% in two consecutive censuses.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.slov-lex.sk/pravne-predpisy/SK/ZZ/1999/184/20121001.html|title=Zákon 184/1999 Z. z. o používaní jazykov národnostných menšín|last=Slovenskej Republiky|first=Národná Rada|year=1999|publisher=Zbierka zákonov|language=sk|access-date=3 December 2016|archive-date=13 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211213235528/https://www.slov-lex.sk/pravne-predpisy/SK/ZZ/1999/184/20121001.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Slovakia is ranked among the top EU countries regarding the knowledge of foreign languages. In 2007, 68% of the population aged from 25 to 64 years claimed to speak two or more foreign languages, finishing second highest in the European Union. The best known foreign language in Slovakia is [[Czech language|Czech]]. [[Eurostat]] report also shows that 98.3% of Slovak students in the upper secondary education take on two foreign languages, ranking highly over the average 60.1% in the European Union.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/3-24092009-AP/EN/3-24092009-AP-EN.PDF|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124065821/http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/3-24092009-AP/EN/3-24092009-AP-EN.PDF|archive-date=24 January 2013|title=Eurostat report on foreign languages September 2009|publisher=Epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu|access-date=25 November 2012}}</ref> According to a [[Eurobarometer]] survey from 2012, 26% of the population have knowledge of English at a conversational level, followed by German (22%) and Russian (17%).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/index.cfm/ResultDoc/download/DocumentKy/56932 |title=Europeans and their languages |website=European Commission |access-date=28 July 2020 |archive-date=27 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221027063743/https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/ }}</ref>

The deaf community uses the [[Slovak Sign Language]].

=== Religion ===
{{Main|Religion in Slovakia}}

{{Multiple image
| align             = right
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 190px
| image1            = Levoča (2).jpg
| caption1          = Basilica of St. James in [[Levoča]]
| image2            = Dóm svätej Alžbety a Kaplnka sv. Michala, Košice, Slovensko.jpg
| caption2          = [[St. Elisabeth Cathedral]] in Košice, the largest church in Slovakia
}}

The [[Constitution of Slovakia|Slovak constitution]] guarantees [[freedom of religion]]. In 2021, 55.8% of population identified themselves as [[Catholic Church in Slovakia|Catholic]]s ([[Latin Church]]), 5.3% as [[Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovakia|Lutherans]], 1.6% as [[Reformed Christian Church in Slovakia|Calvinists]], 4% as [[Slovak Greek Catholic Church|Greek Catholics]], 0.9% as [[Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia|Orthodox]], 23.8% identified themselves as [[Atheism|atheists]] or non-religious, and 6.5% did not answer the question about their belief.<ref>{{cite web |title=Roman Catholics represents 56% of the population |url=https://www.scitanie.sk/en/roman-catholics-represents-56-percent-of-the-population |website=SODB 2021 |publisher=Štatistický úrad slovenskej republiky |access-date=6 April 2022 |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407062041/https://www.scitanie.sk/en/roman-catholics-represents-56-percent-of-the-population |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2004, about one third of the church members regularly attended church services.<ref>{{cite web|last=Manchin|first=Robert|title=Religion in Europe: Trust Not Filling the Pews|publisher=Gallup|year=2004|url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/13117/religion-europe-trust-filling-pews.aspx|access-date=4 December 2009|archive-date=20 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120155549/http://www.gallup.com/poll/13117/religion-europe-trust-filling-pews.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Slovak Greek Catholic Church]] is an Eastern rite [[sui iuris]] Catholic Church. Before World War&nbsp;II, an estimated 90,000 Jews lived in Slovakia (1.6% of the population), but most were murdered during the [[Holocaust]]. After further reductions due to postwar [[aliyah|emigration]] and assimilation, only about 2,300 Jews remain today (0.04% of the population).<ref>{{cite web|last=Vogelsang|first=Peter|author2=Brian B. M. Larsen |title=Deportations|work=The Danish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies|year=2002|url=http://www.holocaust-education.dk/holocaust/deportationer.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810055334/http://www.holocaust-education.dk/holocaust/deportationer.asp|archive-date=10 August 2011|access-date=26 April 2008}}</ref>

There are 18 state-registered religions in Slovakia, of which 16 are Christian, one is Jewish, and one is the [[Baháʼí Faith]].<ref name="Hukelova">{{Cite news|url=http://theconversation.com/slovak-president-vetoes-controversial-law-heaping-hostility-on-muslims-in-central-europe-70546|work=The Conversation|author=Miroslava Hukelova|title=Slovak president vetoes controversial law heaping hostility on Muslims in Central Europe|date=5 January 2017|access-date=20 January 2019|archive-date=13 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211213235523/https://theconversation.com/slovak-president-vetoes-controversial-law-heaping-hostility-on-muslims-in-central-europe-70546|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2016, a two-thirds majority of the Slovak parliament passed a new bill that would obstruct [[Islam]] and other religious organisations from becoming state-recognised religions by doubling the minimum followers threshold from 25,000 to 50,000; however, Slovakia's then-president [[Andrej Kiska]] vetoed the bill.<ref name="Hukelova"/> In 2010, there were an estimated 5,000 [[Islam in Slovakia|Muslims]] in Slovakia representing less than 0.1% of the country's population.<ref>[https://www.cas.sk/clanok/176603/na-slovensku-je-5-tisic-moslimov-bude-v-nasej-krajine-mesita/ Na Slovensku je 5-tisíc moslimov: Bude v našej krajine mešita? | Nový Čas] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022184023/https://www.cas.sk/clanok/176603/na-slovensku-je-5-tisic-moslimov-bude-v-nasej-krajine-mesita/ |date=22 October 2020 }}. Cas.sk (11 August 2010). Retrieved on 4 February 2017.</ref> Slovakia is the only member state of the European Union to not have any [[mosque]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pluska.sk/spravy/zo-zahranicia/slovensko-je-poslednou-krajinou-unie-kde-nie-je-mesita.html |title=Slovensko je poslednou krajinou únie, kde nie je mešita |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=15 November 2014 |website=Pluska |publisher=7 PLUS, s.r.o. |access-date=5 April 2014 |language=sk |archive-date=7 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407074932/http://www.pluska.sk/spravy/zo-zahranicia/slovensko-je-poslednou-krajinou-unie-kde-nie-je-mesita.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Education ===
{{Main|Education in Slovakia}}
[[File:Univerzita Komenského.jpg|thumb|left|[[Comenius University in Bratislava|Comenius University]] headquarters in [[Bratislava]]]]

Education in Slovakia is compulsory from age 6 to 16. Primary school in Slovakia lasts for nine years, which is divided into two parts, the first stage (age 6–10) and the second stage (age 10–15), which is finished by taking nationwide testing called ''Monitor'' (in Slovak language and math).

For most students, secondary education (high school) lasts four years, from ages 15 to 19. This is the typical length for students who complete the full nine years of primary school and then enroll in a secondary school. High school is finished by school-leaving exam called ''Maturita'', or ''Maturitná skúška''. The [[Programme for International Student Assessment]], coordinated by the [[Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|OECD]], currently ranks [[education in Slovakia|Slovak secondary education]] the 30th in the world (placing it just below the United States and just above Spain).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/42/8/39700724.pdf |title=Range of rank on the PISA 2006 science scale at OECD |access-date=16 October 2010 |archive-date=29 December 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091229020307/http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/42/8/39700724.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

After finishing high school, students can go to university. Slovakia has a wide range of universities. The biggest university is [[Comenius University]], established in 1919. Although it is not the first university ever established on Slovak territory, it is the oldest university that is still running. Most universities in Slovakia are public funded, where anyone can apply. Every citizen has a right to free education in public schools. The country has also several privately funded universities. Anyone can apply to any number of universities.

== Culture ==
{{Main|Culture of Slovakia}}

=== Folk tradition ===
{{See also|Music of Slovakia|Architecture of Slovakia}}

[[File:Vlkolinec 02.jpg|thumb|right|Wooden folk architecture can be seen in the well-preserved village of [[Vlkolínec]], a [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]].]]
[[Folk tradition]] has rooted strongly in Slovakia and is reflected in literature, music, dance and architecture. The prime example is the Slovak national anthem, ''"[[Nad Tatrou sa blýska]]"'', which is based on a melody from the ''"[[Kopala studienku]]"'' folk song.

The manifestation of Slovak folklore culture is the "''Východná''" Folklore Festival. It is the oldest and largest nationwide festival with international participation,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.festivalvychodna.sk/|title=Folklórny festival Východná|first=Národné osvetové|last=centrum|website=Folklórny festival Východná|access-date=7 November 2012|archive-date=9 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210409050535/http://www.festivalvychodna.sk/|url-status=live}}</ref> which takes place in [[Východná]] annually. Slovakia is usually represented by many groups but mainly by SĽUK (''Slovenský ľudový umelecký kolektív—Slovak folk art collective''). SĽUK is the largest Slovak folk art group, trying to preserve the folklore tradition.

An example of wooden folk architecture in Slovakia can be seen in the well-preserved village of [[Vlkolínec]] which has been the [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]] since 1993.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/622/|title=Vlkolínec|first=UNESCO World Heritage|last=Centre|website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre|access-date=8 February 2020|archive-date=1 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230801104120/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/622|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Prešov Region]] preserves the world's most remarkable folk wooden churches. Most of them are protected by Slovak law as [[cultural heritage]], but some of them are on the [[UNESCO]] list too, in Bodružal, Hervartov, Ladomirová and Ruská Bystrá.

The best known Slovak hero, found in many folk [[mythologies]], is [[Juraj Jánošík]] (1688–1713) (the Slovak equivalent of [[Robin Hood]]). The legend says he was taking from the rich and giving to the poor. Jánošík's life was depicted in a list of literary works and many movies throughout the 20th century. One of the most popular is a film ''Jánošík'' directed by [[Martin Frič]] in 1935.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jánošík movie on Czechoslovak Film Database|year=1935|url=http://www.csfd.cz/film/3113-janosik/|access-date=7 November 2012|archive-date=21 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150621202802/http://www.csfd.cz/film/3113-janosik/|url-status=live}}</ref> He is commemorated mainly in [[Terchová]], his family's place of living.

=== Art ===
[[File:St. James, Levoča, Main altar, 2017 v2.jpg|thumb|right|Main altar in the Basilica of St. James, crafted by [[Master Paul of Levoča]], 1517. It is the tallest wooden altar in the world]]

[[Visual art]] in Slovakia is represented through [[painting]], [[drawing]], [[printmaking]], [[illustration]], [[Handicraft|arts and crafts]], [[sculpture]], [[photography]] or [[conceptual art]]. The [[Slovak National Gallery]] founded in 1948, is the biggest network of galleries in Slovakia. Two displays in Bratislava are situated in [[Esterházy Palace (Bratislava)|Esterházy Palace]] (''Esterházyho palác'') and the Water Barracks (''Vodné kasárne''), adjacent one to another. They are located on the Danube riverfront in the Old Town.<ref>{{cite web | publisher = Muzeum.sk | url = http://www.muzeum.bratislava.sk/en/vismo/dokumenty2.asp?id_org=700016&id=1002&p1=51 | title = Slovak National Gallery (SNG) Bratislava | date = n.d. | access-date = 17 May 2007 | archive-date = 2 March 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210302175041/http://www.muzeum.bratislava.sk/en/vismo/dokumenty2.asp?id_org=700016&id=1002&p1=51 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sng.sk/en/uvod/o-sng|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311061018/http://www.sng.sk/en/uvod/o-sng|archive-date=11 March 2012 |title=About SNG – SNG |publisher=Sng.sk |access-date=25 November 2012}}</ref>

The [[Bratislava City Gallery]], founded in 1961 is the second biggest Slovak gallery of its kind. It stores about 35,000 pieces of Slovak international art and offers permanent displays in [[Johann Pálffy Palace|Pálffy Palace]] and [[Mirbach Palace]], located in the Old Town. Danubiana Art Museum, one of the youngest art museums in Europe, is situated near [[Čunovo]] waterworks (part of [[Gabčíkovo - Nagymaros Dams|Gabčíkovo Waterworks]]). Other major galleries include: [[Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art]] (Warhol's parents were from [[Miková]]), [[East Slovak Gallery]], [[Ernest Zmeták Art Gallery]], [[Zvolen Castle]].

=== Literature ===
{{Further|Slovak literature}}
{{See also|List of Slovak authors}}

[[File:Bozetech Klemens Stur.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|[[Ľudovít Štúr]] codified the Slovak standard language.]]
Christian topics include poem [[Proglas]] as a foreword to the four [[Gospel]]s, partial translations of the Bible into [[Old Church Slavonic]], ''Zakon sudnyj ljudem''.

[[Medieval literature]], in the period from the 11th to the 15th centuries, was written in [[Latin]], Czech and Slovakised Czech. Lyric (prayers, songs and formulas) was still controlled by the Church, while epic was concentrated on legends. Authors from this period include [[Johannes de Thurocz]], author of the [[Chronica Hungarorum]] and Maurus, both of them Hungarians.<ref name=Phillips>{{cite book |title=The dictionary of biographical reference: containing one hundred thousand names, together with a classed index of the biographical literature of Europe and America|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionarybiogr00philgoog|last=Lawrence Barnett Phillips |year=1871 |publisher=S. Low, Son, & Marston |page=1020}}</ref> The worldly literature also emerged and chronicles were written in this period.

Two leading persons codified Slovak. The first was [[Anton Bernolák]], whose concept was based on the western Slovak [[dialect]] in 1787. It was the codification of the first-ever literary language of Slovaks. The second was [[Ľudovít Štúr]], whose formation of the Slovak took principles from the central Slovak dialect in 1843.

Slovakia is also known for its polyhistors, of whom include [[Pavel Jozef Šafárik|Pavol Jozef Šafárik]], [[Matthias Bel|Matej Bel]], [[Ján Kollár]], and its political revolutionaries and reformists, such [[Milan Rastislav Štefánik]] and [[Alexander Dubček]].

=== Cuisine ===
{{Main|Slovak cuisine}}
{{See also|Slovak wine|Beer in Slovakia}}

[[File:Stará Bystrica, Brynzové halušky.jpg|thumb|[[Bryndzové halušky]], one of the [[national dish]]es in Slovakia]]

Traditional Slovak cuisine is based mainly on [[pork]], [[poultry]] ([[chicken]] is the most widely eaten, followed by [[duck]], [[goose]], and [[Turkey as food|turkey]]), [[flour]], [[potato]]es, [[cabbage]], and [[milk products]]. It is relatively closely related to [[Hungarian cuisine|Hungarian]], [[Czech cuisine|Czech]], [[Polish cuisine|Polish]] and [[Austrian cuisine]]. On the east it is also influenced by [[Ukrainian cuisine|Ukrainian]], including [[Lemkos|Lemko]] and [[Rusyns|Rusyn]]. In comparison with other European countries, [[Game (hunting)|"game meat"]] is more accessible in Slovakia due to vast resources of forest and because hunting is relatively popular.<ref name="EuropeNations2000">{{cite book|author1=United Nations. Economic Commission for Europe|author2=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations|title=Forest resources of Europe, CIS, North America, Australia, Japan and New Zealand (industrialised temperate/boreal countries): UN-ECE/FAO contribution to the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xg_xAAAAMAAJ|year=2000|publisher=United Nations|isbn=978-92-1-116735-1|pages=347–|quote=In some countries, the commercial sale of game meat is an important economic activity, including the export of game meat. ... value in the Netherlands, and as the value of export, domestic consumption, and industrial processing in Slovakia.}}</ref> [[Boar]], [[rabbit]], and [[venison]] are generally available throughout the year. [[Sheep|Lamb]] and [[goat]] are eaten but are not widely popular.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

The traditional Slovak meals are {{Lang|sk|[[bryndzové halušky]]|italic=no}}, bryndzové pirohy and other meals with potato dough and [[bryndza]]. Bryndza is a salty cheese made of sheep milk, characterised by a strong taste and aroma. Bryndzové halušky especially is considered a national dish, and is very commonly found on the menu of traditional Slovak restaurants.

A typical soup is a [[sauerkraut]] soup ("kapustnica"). A [[Black pudding|blood sausage]] called "krvavnica", made from any parts of a butchered pig, is also a specific Slovak meal.

Wine is enjoyed throughout Slovakia. [[Slovak wine]] comes predominantly from the southern areas along the Danube and its tributaries; the northern half of the country is too cold and mountainous to grow grapevines. Traditionally, white wine was more popular than red or rosé (except in some regions), and [[Sweetness of wine|sweet wine]] more popular than dry; however, in recent years tastes seem to be changing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.slovakiasite.com/slovak-cuisine.php |title=Slovak Cuisine |publisher=Slovakiasite.com |access-date=16 October 2010 |archive-date=9 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609050418/https://www.slovakiasite.com/slovak-cuisine.php |url-status=live }}</ref> Beer (mainly of the [[pilsener]] style, though [[Dunkel|dark lagers]] are also consumed) is also popular.

=== Sport ===
{{Main|Sport in Slovakia}}

Sporting activities are practised widely in Slovakia, many of them on a professional level. [[Ice hockey]] and [[association football|football]] have traditionally been regarded as the most popular sports in Slovakia, though [[tennis]], [[handball]], [[basketball]], [[volleyball]], [[whitewater slalom]], [[cycle sport|cycling]], [[alpine skiing]], [[biathlon]] and [[sport of athletics|athletics]] are also popular.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

[[File:Slovakia2010WinterOlympicscelebration2.jpg|thumb|The [[Slovakia men's national ice hockey team|Slovak national ice hockey team]] celebrating a victory against [[Swedish national men's ice hockey team|Sweden]] at the [[2010 Winter Olympics]]]]
One of the most popular team sports in Slovakia is [[ice hockey]]. Slovakia became a member of the [[IIHF]] on 2&nbsp;February 1993.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iihf.com/sk/iihf-home/countries/slovakia.html |title=Slovakia |publisher=Iihf.com |date=2 February 1993 |access-date=25 November 2012 |archive-date=14 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014095416/http://www.iihf.com/sk/iihf-home/countries/slovakia.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Since then, the team has won four medals in [[Ice Hockey World Championships]], consisting of one gold, two silver and a bronze. The most recent success was a silver medal at the [[2012 IIHF World Championship]] in [[Helsinki]]. The Slovak national hockey team made eight appearances in the [[Slovakia men's national ice hockey team|Olympic games]], finishing fourth in the [[2010 Winter Olympics]] in [[Vancouver]] and third with bronze medal at the [[2022 Winter Olympics]] in [[Beijing]]. The country has 8,280 registered players and is ranked seventh in the [[IIHF World Ranking]] at present. The Slovak hockey teams [[HC Slovan Bratislava]] and [[HC Lev Poprad]] participated in the [[Kontinental Hockey League]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iihf.com/fi/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/recap/6876.html |title=World of difference for KHL? |publisher=iihf.com |date=7 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123082543/http://www.iihf.com/fi/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/recap/6876.html |archive-date=23 January 2013}}</ref>

Slovakia hosted the [[2011 IIHF World Championship]], where [[Finland men's national ice hockey team|Finland]] won the gold medal and [[2019 IIHF World Championship]], where [[Finland men's national ice hockey team|Finland]] also won the gold medal. Both competitions took place in [[Bratislava]] and [[Košice]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Venues |url=https://webarchive.iihf.com/channels-11/iihf-world-championship-wc11/home-oc/venues/index.html |access-date=22 September 2023 |website=webarchive.iihf.com |archive-date=15 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231015194120/https://webarchive.iihf.com/channels-11/iihf-world-championship-wc11/home-oc/venues/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Slovakia bratislava Národný futbalový štadión.jpg|thumb|right|[[Tehelné pole|National football stadium]] in Bratislava]]

Football is the most popular sport in Slovakia, with over 400,000 registered players. Since 1993, the [[Slovak national football team]] has qualified for the [[FIFA World Cup]] once, in [[2010 FIFA World Cup|2010]]. They progressed to the last 16, where they were defeated by the [[Netherlands national football team|Netherlands]]. The most notable result was the 3–2 victory over [[Italy national football team|Italy]]. In 2016, the [[Slovak national football team]] qualified for the [[UEFA Euro 2016]] tournament, under head coach [[Ján Kozák (footballer, born 1954)|Ján Kozák]]. This helped the team reach its best-ever position of 14th in the [[FIFA World Rankings]].{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

In club competitions, only three teams have qualified for the [[UEFA Champions League]] Group Stage, namely [[MFK Košice]] in [[1997–98 UEFA Champions League|1997–98]], [[FC Artmedia Bratislava]] in [[2005–06 UEFA Champions League|2005–06 season]], and [[MŠK Žilina]] in [[2010–11 UEFA Champions League|2010–11]]. FC Artmedia Bratislava has been the most successful team, finishing third at the Group Stage of the [[2005–06 UEFA Cup|UEFA Cup]], therefore qualifying for the knockout stage. They remain the only Slovak club that has won a match at the group stage.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}

== See also ==
{{Portal |Slovakia|European Union}}
* [[Outline of Slovakia]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
{{Refbegin}}
* Julius Bartl et al., ''Slovak History: Chronology & Lexicon.'' Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 2002.
* Olga Drobna, Eduard Drobny, and Magdalena Gocnikova, ''Slovakia: The Heart of Europe.'' Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 1996.
* Pavel Dvorak, ''The Early History of Slovakia in Images.'' Budmerice, Slovakia: Vydavatel'stvo Rak Budmerice, 2006.
* Sharon Fisher, ''Political Change in Post-Communist Slovakia and Croatia: From Nationalist to Europeanist.'' New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
* Karen Henderson, ''Slovakia: The Escape from Invisibility.'' London: Routledge, 2002.
* Rob Humphrey, ''The Rough Guide to the Czech and Slovak Republics.'' New York: Rough Guides, 2006.
* Michael Jacobs, ''Blue Guide: Czech and Slovak Republics.'' London: A.&C. Black, 1999.
* Owen V. Johnson, ''Slovakia 1918–1938: Education and the Making of a Nation.'' Boulder, CO: East European Monographs, 1985.
* Lil Junas, ''My Slovakia: An American's View.'' Martin, Slovakia: Vydavatelśtvo Matice slovenskej, 2001.
* Stanislav Kirschbaum, ''A History of Slovakia: The Struggle for Survival.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995.
* Eugen Lazistan, Fedor Mikovič, Ivan Kučma, and Anna Jurečková, ''Slovakia: A Photographic Odyssey.'' Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 2001.
* Elena Mannová, ''A Concise History of Slovakia.'' Bratislava: Historický ústav SAV, 2000.
* Anton Spiesz and Dusan Caplovic, ''Illustrated Slovak History: A Struggle for Sovereignty in Central Europe.'' Wauconda, IL : Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, 2001.
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
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'''Government'''
* [http://www.vlada.gov.sk/government-office-of-the-slovak-republic/ Government Office of the Slovak Republic]
* [https://www.prezident.sk/en/ President of the Slovak Republic]
* [https://www.mzv.sk/web/en Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic]
* [https://slovak.statistics.sk/ Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic]

'''Tourism and living information'''
* [https://slovakia.travel/en Official Slovak National Tourism Portal]
* [https://www.zssk.sk/en/ Railways of Slovak Republic]
* [https://www.lonelyplanet.com/slovakia Slovakia] at [[Lonely Planet]]
* [https://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g274922-Slovakia-Vacations.html Slovakia] at [[Tripadvisor]]

'''General information'''
* [https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/slovakia/ Slovakia]. ''[[The World Factbook]]''. [[Central Intelligence Agency]].
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17847682 Slovakia profile] from the [[BBC News]]
* [http://www.ifs.du.edu/ifs/frm_CountryProfile.aspx?Country=SK Key Development Forecasts for the Slovak Republic] from [[International Futures]]

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