Slovakia, officially named the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over five million and an area
of about 49,000 square
kilometres. The largest
city is
Bratislava,
its capital.
Slovakia is divided into 8 regions, each of which is named after its regional capital. The regions are subdivided into many districts. In the past, Slovakia had 79 districts, which are no longer part of the official administrative system, but the country has maintained them for different purposes.
In terms of economy and unemployment rate, the western regions are more prosperous than the east. Slovakia is best known for its pistine nature in the countryside: mountains make up two-thirds of its land, 40 percent of which is covered by forests.
The region of Bratislava is the country's smallest in terms of area, but its most densely settled and urbanised, with 296 inhabitants per square kilometre, about three times the Slovak average. Bratislava, the capital, had a population of 426,091, or 70 percent of the total inhabitants of the region. The Bratislava region is bordered by the Danube to the south and the Morava to the west. It consists of the Záhorie lowlands in the far west of the country and the Podunajská nížina (Danube lowlands) towards the Hungarian south, divided by the heavily forested Malé Karpaty (Small Carpathian mountains) range.
The south-west Trnava region is a strangely shaped body of land that encloses Bratislava region and borders on the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary. It is the second smallest region after Bratislava, and the smallest in terms of area.
The south-central Nitra region is Slovakia's agricultural heartland. Flatter and warmer than the rest of the country, its soil and terrain are best suited to farming.
The north-west Žilina region is a rugged area that borders on the Czech Republic and Poland. It includes no fewer than seven mountain ranges: the Tatry and Nízke tatry (Tatras and the Low Tatras), the Veľká and Malá Fatra (Greater and Lesser Fatras), the Chočské vrchy (Choč Mountains), the Javorníky and the Strážovské vrchy (Strážov Mountains). The region is also dominated by national parks
Banská Bystrica region, the country's largest in terms of area, lies in the southern part of Central Slovakia. With its extensive forests and hilly terrain, it is the least densely settled region.
The north-east Prešov region is Slovakia's most physically spectacular, but poor and sparsely settled as well. It borders on Poland and Ukraine, and contains five national parks. Less than half of the inhabitants of the region live in urban settings.
Košice region is a largely flat and poor area in the southeast of Slovakia bordering on Ukraine and Hungary. With a population of 773,000, it is the second largest region while with about one third of the total inhabitants of the region, the capital Košice is Slovakia's second largest city and is the industrial anchor of the east of the country.
The north-west Trenčín region is a relatively wealthy and developed part of Slovakia, bordering on the Czech Republic. It is hilly but not rugged, and has an unusually high (55 percent) proportion of inhabitants employed in industry, making it the second most heavily industrialised region after Bratislava.
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NBS reports on residential real estate developments
Published: 1 week ago
The housing market in Slovakia is stabilising according to ČSOB bank analyst Marek Gábriš in his analysis of real estate price statistics published by the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS) on May 3, as reported by the TASR newswire.
Alexis bookstore loses its lease in the Cvernovka building
Published: 2 weeks ago
The Alexis bookshop is one the shops that will be asked to vacate the Cvernovka building, a former industrial building in Bratislava that is one of the last historical industrial buildings on Páričkova street near the main bus station where thread was produced in the past. Only some the buildings on the street are protected as historic buildings.
Build-to-suit project for Schnellecke Logistics completed
Published: 3 weeks ago
PointPark Properties (P3) has successfully completed construction of a warehouse facility at PointPark Bratislava in Lozorno. The build-to-suit project spans a 50,000-square-metre parcel of land with a total building area of 26,349 square metres, including 1,600 square metres of office space, the company announced in a press release.
Sme reports on the Bratislava apartment market
Published: 3 weeks ago
Bratislava homebuyers keep searching for smaller apartments or they want more rooms available in less or the same square metres, the Sme daily wrote in mid April, reporting on statistics about deposits on apartments and actual sales of apartments in new housing developments in Bratislava for the final quarter of 2011. Sme added that even though a drop in real estate prices has made buying apartments more affordable, people remain thrifty and reluctant to buy.
Mortgage interest rates rise
Published: 1 month ago
The average interest rate for mortgages has been rising in Slovakia as it was 4.76 percent in February 2011 and stood at 5.16 percent in February 2012. Ján Porázik, an analyst at Fincentrum, says the higher mortgage rates may be due to an amendment to the Act on Banks effective this January that requires banks to announce any changes in their interest rates two months in advance, the TASR newswire wrote.
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Construction decline deepens in March
Published: 2 days ago, Compiled by Spectator staff
Output by Slovakia’s construction sector contracted by 11 percent in March to €328.8 million in a year-to-year comparison and was 3.2 percentage points worse than the results in February, the SITA newswire wrote, citing data from the Slovak Statistics Office.
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