In early 1993 the government began enacting environmental legislation to combat pollution in the republic.

Population

Slovaks, a Slavic people, constitute about 85 per cent of the population in Slovakia. Absorbed by the Magyars of Hungary at the beginning of the 10th century, the Slovaks spent the following thousand years as a peasant people, a situation which bred historic tensions with the neighbouring Czechs, who usually formed the local social and political elites. The republic is also home to approximately 570,000 ethnic Hungarians (over 10 per cent of the total population), as well as some 300,000 Gypsies and small populations of Poles, Germans, Russians, and Ukrainians. There is some ethnic tension between the Slovak majority and Hungarians.

Population Characteristics

Slovakia has a population of 5,367,800 (1995 official estimate). The average population density is 110 people per sq km (285 per sq mi). The population is 59 per cent urban. Slovakia's western regions are the most densely populated, the southern and eastern provinces being relatively sparsely settled.

Political Divisions and Principal Cities

For administrative purposes, Slovakia is divided into four regions, including the separate capital area of Bratislava, and these regions are further divided into 38 municipalities (okresy); however, these divisions are not strongly empowered or defined in Slovakia's constitution. The four provincial regions are: Západoslovenský (West Slovakia), with a population of 1,725,352 (1994 estimate); Stredoslovenský (Central Slovakia), with a population of 1,636,003; and Východoslovenský (East Slovakia), with a population of 1,544,077.
The capital city and administrative region of Bratislava, with an area of 368 sq km (142 sq mi), has a population of 450,775 (1994 estimate). Other major cities and their populations (1994) include Košice (239,927); Nitra (87,127); Prešov (92,013); and Banská Bystrica (84,741).

Religion

Most Slovaks practise some form of Christian religion, primarily Roman Catholicism. Over 60 per cent of the population is Roman Catholic. There are also Protestant (chiefly Calvinist and Lutheran), Eastern Orthodox, and other smaller religious minorities. Roman Catholicism is politically important.

Language

The Slovak language is the official language and belongs to the West Slavic sub-group of the Indo-European language family, though it uses Roman rather than Cyrillic script. It differs only slightly from Czech, and fluency in both languages is common. Hungarian, Polish, German, Ukrainian, Romany, and Russian are also spoken as minority languages.

Education

Education is free and compulsory for all children from 6 to 14 years.