Slovenia
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Slovenia,Template:Efn officially the Republic of Slovenia,Template:Efn is a country in Central Europe.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short coastline within the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, which is part of the Mediterranean Sea.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica 2021">Template:Cite web</ref> Slovenia is mostly mountainous and forested,<ref name="perko2008">Template:Cite journal</ref> covers Template:Convert,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and has a population of approximately 2.1 million people.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Slovene is the official language.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica">Template:Cite web</ref> Slovenia has a predominantly temperate continental climate,<ref name="Fallon2007">Template:Cite book</ref> with the exception of the Slovene Littoral and the Julian Alps. Ljubljana, the capital and largest city of Slovenia, is geographically situated near the centre of the country.<ref name="Mestna občina Ljubljana 2017">Template:Cite web</ref> Other larger urban centers are Maribor, Ptuj, Kranj, Celje and Koper.
Slovenia's territory has been part of many different states: the Byzantine Empire, the Carolingian Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Hungary, the Republic of Venice, the Illyrian Provinces of Napoleon's First French Empire and the Habsburg Empire.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica 2021" /> In October 1918, the Slovenes co-founded the State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs.<ref name="Trgovčević 2016">Template:Cite web</ref> In December 1918, they merged with the Kingdom of Montenegro and the Kingdom of Serbia into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.<ref name="I feel Slovenia 2020">Template:Cite web</ref> During World War II, Germany, Italy, and Hungary occupied and annexed Slovenia, with a tiny area transferred to the Independent State of Croatia, a newly declared Nazi puppet state.<ref name="sečen2005">Template:Cite news</ref> In 1945, it again became part of Yugoslavia. Post-war, Yugoslavia was allied with the Eastern Bloc, but after the Tito–Stalin split of 1948, it never subscribed to the Warsaw Pact, and in 1961 it became one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In June 1991, Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia and became an independent sovereign state.<ref name="Škrk1999">Template:Cite book</ref>
Slovenia is a developed country, with a high-income economy characterized by a mixture of both traditional industries, such as manufacturing and agriculture, and modern sectors, such as information technology and financial services. The economy is highly dependent on foreign trade, with exports accounting for a significant portion of the country's GDP. Slovenia is a member of the Council of Europe, the European Union, the United Nations, NATO, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and other associations in the global community.
Etymology
[edit]The name Slovenia etymologically means 'land of the Slavs'. The origin of the name Template:Wikt-lang itself remains uncertain. The suffix -en forms a demonym.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
History
[edit]Prehistory to Slavic settlement
[edit]Prehistory
[edit]Present-day Slovenia has been inhabited since prehistoric times. There is evidence of human habitation from around 250,000 years ago.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A pierced cave bear bone, dating from 43100 ± 700 BP, found in 1995 in Divje Babe cave near Cerkno, is considered a kind of flute, and possibly the oldest musical instrument discovered in the world.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In the 1920s and 1930s, artifacts belonging to the Cro-Magnon, such as pierced bones, bone points, and a needle were found by archaeologist Srečko Brodar in Potok Cave.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="autogenerated2">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
In 2002, remains of pile dwellings over 4,500 years old were discovered in the Ljubljana Marsh, now protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the Ljubljana Marshes Wooden Wheel, the oldest wooden wheel in the world.<ref name="The_Oldest_Wooden_Wheel_in_the_World">Template:Cite web</ref> It shows that wooden wheels appeared almost simultaneously in Mesopotamia and Europe.<ref name="Slovenia">Template:Cite web</ref> In the transition period between the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, the Urnfield culture flourished. Archaeological remains dating from the Hallstatt period have been found, particularly in southeastern Slovenia, among them a number of situlas in Novo Mesto, the "Town of Situlas".<ref name="Situla1">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Roman era
[edit]In Roman times, the area that is now Slovenia was shared between Venetia et Histria (region X of Roman Italia in the classification of Augustus) and the provinces Pannonia and Noricum. The Romans established posts at Emona (Ljubljana), Poetovio (Ptuj), and Celeia (Celje); and constructed trade and military roads that ran across Slovene territory from Italy to Pannonia. In the 5th and 6th centuries, the area was subject to invasions by the Huns and Germanic tribes during their incursions into Italy. Part of the inner state was protected with a defensive line of towers and walls called Claustra Alpium Iuliarum. A crucial battle between Theodosius I and Eugenius took place in the Vipava Valley in 394.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Slavic settlement
[edit]The Slavic tribes migrated to the Alpine area after the westward departure of the Lombards (the last Germanic tribe) in 568, and, under pressure from Avars, established a Slavic settlement in the Eastern Alps. From 623 to 624 or possibly 626 onwards, King Samo united the Alpine and Western Slavs against the Avars and Germanic peoples and established what is referred to as Samo's Kingdom. After its disintegration following Samo's death in 658 or 659, the ancestors of the Slovenes located in present-day Carinthia formed the independent duchy of Carantania,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Carniola, later duchy Carniola. Other parts of present-day Slovenia were again ruled by Avars before Charlemagne's victory over them in 803.
Middle Ages
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The Carantanians, one of the ancestral groups of the modern Slovenes, particularly the Carinthian Slovenes, were the first Slavic people to accept Christianity. They were mostly Christianized by Irish missionaries, among them Modestus, known as the "Apostle of Carantanians". This process, together with the Christianization of the Bavarians, was later described in the memorandum known as the Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum, which is thought to have overemphasized the role of the Church of Salzburg in the Christianization process over similar efforts of the Patriarchate of Aquileia.
In the mid-8th century, Carantania became a vassal duchy under the rule of the Bavarians, who began spreading Christianity. Three decades later, the Carantanians were incorporated, together with the Bavarians, into the Carolingian Empire. During the same period Carniola, too, came under the Franks, and was Christianised from Aquileia. Following the anti-Frankish rebellion of Liudewit at the beginning of the 9th century, the Franks removed the Carantanian princes, replacing them with their own border dukes. Consequently, the Frankish feudal system reached the Slovene territory.
After the victory of Emperor Otto I over the Magyars in 955, Slovene territory was divided into a number of border regions of the Holy Roman Empire. Carantania was elevated into the Duchy of Carinthia in 976.
By the 11th century, the Germanization of what is now Lower Austria, effectively isolated the Slovene-inhabited territory from the other western Slavs, speeding up the development of the Slavs of Carantania and of Carniola into an independent Carantanian/Carniolans/Slovene ethnic group. By the High Middle Ages, the historic provinces of Carniola, Styria, Carinthia, Gorizia, Trieste, and Istria developed from the border regions and were incorporated into the medieval Holy Roman Empire. The consolidation and formation of these historical lands took place in a long period between the 11th and 14th centuries, and were led by a number of important feudal families, such as the Dukes of Spanheim, the Counts of Gorizia, the Counts of Celje, and, finally, the House of Habsburg. In a parallel process, an intensive Germanization significantly diminished the extent of Slovene-speaking areas. By the 15th century, the Slovene ethnic territory was reduced to its present size.<ref name="culture.si">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 1335, Henry of Gorizia, Duke of Carinthia, Landgrave of Carniola and Count of Tyrol died without a male heir, his daughter Margaret was able to keep the County of Tyrol, while the Wittelsbach emperor Louis IV passed Carinthia and Carniolan march to the Habsburg duke Albert II of Austria, whose mother, Elisabeth of Carinthia is a sister of the late duke Henry of Gorizia. Therefore, most of the territory of present-day Slovenia became a hereditary land of the Habsburg monarchy. As with the other component parts of the Habsburg monarchy, Carinthia and Carniola remained a semi-autonomous state with its own constitutional structure for a long time. The counts of Celje, a feudal family from this area who in 1436 acquired the title of state princes, were Habsburgs' powerful competitors for some time. This large dynasty, important at a European political level, had its seat in Slovene territory but died out in 1456. Its numerous large estates subsequently became the property of the Habsburgs, who retained control of the area right up until the beginning of the 20th century. Patria del Friuli ruled present western Slovenia until Venetian takeover in 1420.
At the end of the Middle Ages, the Slovene Lands suffered a serious economic and demographic setback because of the Turkish raids. In 1515, a peasant revolt spread across nearly the whole Slovene territory. In 1572 and 1573 the Croatian-Slovenian peasant revolt wrought havoc throughout the wider region. Such uprisings, which often met with bloody defeats, continued throughout the 17th century.<ref name="culture.si"/>
Early modern period
[edit]After the dissolution of the Republic of Venice in 1797, the Venetian Slovenia was passed to the Austrian Empire. The Slovene Lands were part of the French-administered Illyrian Provinces established by Napoleon, the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary. Slovenes inhabited most of Carniola, the southern part of the duchies of Carinthia and Styria, the northern and eastern areas of the Austrian Littoral, as well as Prekmurje in the Kingdom of Hungary.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Industrialization was accompanied by construction of railroads to link cities and markets, but the urbanization was limited.
Due to limited opportunities, between 1880 and 1910 there was extensive emigration; around 300,000 Slovenes (1 in 6) emigrated to other countries,<ref name="Benderly9">Template:Cite book</ref> mostly to the US, but also to South America (the main part to Argentina), Germany, Egypt, and to larger cities in Austria-Hungary, especially Vienna and Graz. Despite this emigration, the population of Slovenia increased significantly.<ref name="Benderly9"/> Literacy was exceptionally high, at 80–90%.<ref name="Benderly9"/>
The 19th century also saw a revival of culture in Slovene, accompanied by a Romantic nationalist quest for cultural and political autonomy. The idea of a United Slovenia, first advanced during the revolutions of 1848, became the common platform of most Slovenian parties and political movements in Austria-Hungary. During the same period, Yugoslavism, an ideology stressing the unity of all South Slavic peoples, spread as a reaction to Pan-German nationalism and Italian irredentism.
World War I
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World War I brought heavy casualties to Slovenes, particularly the twelve Battles of the Isonzo, which took place in present-day Slovenia's western border area with Italy. Hundreds of thousands of Slovene conscripts were drafted into the Austro-Hungarian Army, and over 30,000 of them died. Hundreds of thousands of Slovenes from Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca were resettled in refugee camps in Italy and Austria. While the refugees in Austria received decent treatment, the Slovene refugees in Italian camps were treated as state enemies, and several thousand died of malnutrition and diseases between 1915 and 1918.<ref>Petra Svoljšak, Slovenski begunci v Italiji med prvo svetovno vojno (Ljubljana 1991).</ref> Entire areas of the Slovene Littoral were destroyed.
The Treaty of Rapallo of 1920 left approximately 327,000 out of the total population of 1.3 million Slovenes in Italy.<ref name="SacroEgoismo2012">Lipušček, U. (2012) Sacro egoismo: Slovenci v krempljih tajnega londonskega pakta 1915, Cankarjeva založba, Ljubljana. Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="Cresciani_ClashOfCivilisations">Cresciani, Gianfranco (2004) Clash of civilisations Template:Webarchive, Italian Historical Society Journal, Vol. 12, No. 2, p. 4</ref> After the fascists took power in Italy, they were subjected to a policy of violent Fascist Italianization. This caused the mass emigration of Slovenes, especially the middle class, from the Slovene Littoral and Trieste to Yugoslavia and South America. Those who remained organized several connected networks of both passive and armed resistance. The best known was the militant anti-fascist organization TIGR, formed in 1927 to fight Fascist oppression of the Slovene and Croat populations in the Julian March.<ref name="Mira Cencič 1997">Mira Cencič, TIGR (Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1997)</ref><ref name="Tatjana Rejec 1995">Tatjana Rejec, Pričevanja o TIGR-u (Ljubljana: Slovene Society, 1995)</ref>
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia)
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The Slovene People's Party launched a movement for self-determination, demanding the creation of a semi-independent South Slavic state under Habsburg rule. The proposal was picked up by most Slovene parties, and a mass mobilization of Slovene civil society, known as the Declaration Movement, followed.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> This demand was rejected by the Austrian political elites; but following the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the aftermath of the First World War, the National Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs took power in Zagreb on 6 October 1918. On 29 October, independence was declared by a national gathering in Ljubljana, and by the Croatian parliament, declaring the establishment of the new State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs.
On 1 December 1918, the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs merged with Serbia, becoming part of the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes; in 1929 it was renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The main territory of Slovenia, being the most industrialized and westernized compared to other less developed parts of Yugoslavia, became the main centre of industrial production: Compared to Serbia, for example, Slovenian industrial production was four times greater; and it was 22 times greater than in North Macedonia. The interwar period brought further industrialization in Slovenia, with rapid economic growth in the 1920s, followed by a relatively successful economic adjustment to the 1929 economic crisis and Great Depression.
Following a plebiscite in October 1920, the Slovene-speaking southern Carinthia was ceded to Austria. With the Treaty of Trianon, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was awarded the mostly Slovene-inhabited Prekmurje region, formerly part of Austria-Hungary. Slovenes living in territories that fell under the rule of the neighboring states—Italy, Austria, and Hungary—were subjected to assimilation.
World War II
[edit]Template:Image label small Template:Image label small Template:Image label small Template:Image label small
Template:Image label endSlovenia was the only present-day European nation that was trisected and completely annexed into both Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy during World War II.<ref name="GJK_2013">Gregor Joseph Kranjc (2013). To Walk with the Devil, University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division, p. introduction 5</ref> In addition, the Prekmurje region in the east was annexed to Hungary, and some villages in the Lower Sava Valley were incorporated in the newly created Nazi puppet Independent State of Croatia (NDH). Axis forces invaded Yugoslavia in April 1941 and defeated the country in a few weeks. The southern part, including Ljubljana, was annexed to Italy, while the Nazis took over the northern and eastern parts of the country. The Nazis had a plan of ethnic cleansing of these areas,<ref name="HF2006_BerghahnBooks">Haar, I., Fahlbusch, M. (2006): German Scholars and Ethnic Cleansing, 1919–1945, Berghahn Books, Template:ISBN, p. 115</ref> and they resettled or expelled the local Slovene civilian population to the puppet states of Nedić's Serbia (7,500) and NDH (10,000). In addition, some 46,000 Slovenes were expelled to Germany, including children who were separated from their parents and allocated to German families.<ref name="LM2009_UNC">Lukšič-Hacin, M., Mlekuž J. (2009): Go Girls!: When Slovenian Women Left Home, Založba ZRC SAZU, Template:ISBN, p. 55</ref><ref>Zdravko Troha (2004). Kočevski Nemci – partizani [fotografije Zdravko Troha, Pokrajinski muzej Kočevje, Arhiv Slovenije]. Ljubljana: Slovensko kočevarsko društvo Peter Kosler. Template:ISBN</ref> At the same time, the ethnic Germans in the Gottschee enclave in the Italian annexation zone were resettled to the Nazi-controlled areas cleansed of their Slovene population.<ref name="L1993_UNC">Lumans, V.O. (1993):Himmler's Auxiliaries: The Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle and the German National Minorities of Europe, 1933–1945, Univ of North Carolina Press, Template:ISBN, p. 175</ref> Around 30,000 to 40,000 Slovene men were drafted to the German Army and sent to the Eastern front. Slovene was banned from education, and its use in public life was limited.<ref name="GJK_2013"/>
In south-central Slovenia, annexed by Fascist Italy and renamed the Province of Ljubljana, the Slovenian National Liberation Front was organized in April 1941. Led by the Communist Party, it formed the Slovene Partisan units as part of the Yugoslav Partisans led by the Communist leader Josip Broz Tito.<ref name="JJR2013_OxfordPress">Jeffreys-Jones, R. (2013): In Spies We Trust: The Story of Western Intelligence, Oxford University Press, Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="AS_2005">Adams, Simon (2005): The Balkans, Black Rabbit Books, Template:ISBN</ref>
After the resistance started in summer 1941, Italian violence against the Slovene civilian population escalated. The Italian authorities deported some 25,000 people to concentration camps, which equaled 7.5% of the population of their occupation zone. The most infamous ones were Rab and Gonars. To counter the Communist-led insurgence, the Italians sponsored local anti-guerrilla units, formed mostly by the local conservative Catholic Slovene population that resented the revolutionary violence of the partisans. After the Italian armistice of September 1943, the Germans took over both the Province of Ljubljana and the Slovenian Littoral, incorporating them into what was known as the Operation Zone of Adriatic Coastal Region. They united the Slovene anti-Communist counter-insurgence into the Slovene Home Guard and appointed a puppet regime in the Province of Ljubljana. The anti-Nazi resistance however expanded, creating its own administrative structures as the basis for Slovene statehood within a new, federal and socialist Yugoslavia.<ref name=Tomasevich_2001>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Dennison I. Rusinow 1978, p. 2">Template:Cite book</ref>
In 1945, Yugoslavia was liberated by the partisan resistance and soon became a socialist federation known as the People's Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The first Slovenian republic, named Federal Slovenia, was a constituent republic of the Yugoslavian federation, led by its own pro-Communist leadership.
Approximately 8% of the Slovene population died during World War II. The small Jewish community, mostly in the Prekmurje region, was destroyed in 1944 in the holocaust of Hungarian Jews. The German-speaking minority, amounting to 2.5% of the Slovenian population prior to the war, was either expelled or killed in the aftermath of the war. Hundreds of Istrian Italians and Slovenes that were members of fascist and collaborationist forces, alongside civilians presumed to oppose communism, were killed in the foibe massacres, and more than 25,000 fled or were expelled from Slovenian Istria.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Around 130,000 persons, mostly political and military opponents, were executed in May and June 1945.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Socialism
[edit]During the re-establishment of Yugoslavia in World War II, the first Slovenian republic, Federal Slovenia, was created and it became part of Federal Yugoslavia. It was a socialist state, but because of the Tito–Stalin split in 1948, economic and personal freedoms were much broader than in the Eastern Bloc countries. In 1947, the Slovene Littoral and the western half of Inner Carniola, which had been annexed by Italy after World War One, were annexed to Slovenia.
After the failure of forced collectivisation that was attempted from 1949 to 1953, a policy of gradual economic liberalisation, known as workers self-management, was introduced under the advice and supervision of the Slovene Marxist theoretician and Communist leader Edvard Kardelj, the main ideologue of the Titoist path to socialism. Suspected opponents of this policy both from within and outside the Communist party were persecuted and thousands were sent to Goli otok.
The late 1950s saw a policy of liberalization in the cultural sphere as well, and unlimited border crossing into western countries was allowed, both for Yugoslav citizens and for foreigners. In 1956, Josip Broz Tito, together with other leaders, founded the Non-Aligned Movement. In the 1950s, Slovenia's economy developed rapidly and was strongly industrialized. With further economic decentralization of Yugoslavia in 1965–66, Slovenia's domestic product was 2.5 times the average of Yugoslav republics. While a Communist country, after the Tito–Stalin split Yugoslavia initiated a period of military neutrality and non-alignment. JAT Yugoslav Airlines was the flag carrier and during its existence it grew to become one of the leading airlines in Europe both by fleet and destinations. By the 1970s more airlines were created including Slovenian Adria Airways mostly focused in the growing tourist industry. Until the 1980s, Slovenia enjoyed relatively broad autonomy within the federation. It was the most liberal communist state in Europe, and the passport of the Yugoslavia Federation allowed Yugoslavians to travel to the most world countries of any socialist country during the Cold War. Many people worked in western countries, which reduced unemployment in their home country.
Opposition to the regime was mostly limited to intellectual and literary circles and became especially vocal after Tito's death in 1980 when the economic and political situation in Yugoslavia became very strained.<ref name="culture.si"/> Political disputes around economic measures were echoed in the public sentiment, as many Slovenians felt they were being economically exploited, having to sustain an expensive and inefficient federal administration.
Slovenian Spring, democracy and independence
[edit]In 1987 a group of intellectuals demanded Slovene independence in the 57th edition of the magazine Nova revija. Demands for democratisation and more Slovenian independence were sparked off. A mass democratic movement, coordinated by the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, pushed the Communists in the direction of democratic reforms.
In September 1989, numerous constitutional amendments were passed to introduce parliamentary democracy to Slovenia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 7 March 1990, the Slovenian Assembly changed the official name of the state to the "Republic of Slovenia".<ref name="twenty.si">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In April 1990, the first democratic election in Slovenia took place, and the united opposition movement DEMOS led by Jože Pučnik emerged victorious.
The initial revolutionary events in Slovenia pre-dated the Revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe by almost a year, but went largely unnoticed by international observers. On 23 December 1990, more than 88% of the electorate voted for a sovereign and independent Slovenia.<ref name="Felicijan">Template:Cite conference</ref><ref name="STAT11">Template:Cite news</ref> On 25 June 1991, Slovenia became independent.<ref name="Škrk1999"/><ref name="Jonsson">Template:Cite bookTemplate:Dead link</ref> On 27 June in the early morning, the Yugoslav People's Army dispatched its forces to prevent further measures for the establishment of a new country, which led to the Ten-Day War.<ref name="Race">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="SAF History">Template:Cite web</ref> On 7 July, the Brijuni Agreement was signed, implementing a truce and a three-month halt of the enforcement of Slovenia's independence.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> At the end of the month, the last soldiers of the Yugoslav Army left Slovenia.
In December 1991, a new constitution was adopted,<ref name="Jonsson"/> followed in 1992 by the laws on denationalisation and privatisation.<ref name="Klemenčič2004">Template:Cite book</ref> The members of the European Union recognised Slovenia as an independent state on 15 January 1992, and the United Nations accepted it as a member on 22 May 1992.<ref name="Borak2004">Template:Cite book</ref>
Slovenia joined the European Union on 1 May 2004.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Slovenia has one Commissioner in the European Commission, and seven Slovene parliamentarians were elected to the European Parliament at elections on 13 June 2004. In 2004 Slovenia also joined NATO.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Slovenia subsequently succeeded in meeting the Maastricht criteria and joined the Eurozone (the first transition country to do so) on 1 January 2007.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was the first post-Communist country to hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, for the first six months of 2008. On 21 July 2010, it became a member of the OECD.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The disillusionment with domestic socio-economic elites at municipal and national levels was expressed at the 2012–2013 Slovenian protests on a wider scale than in the smaller 15 October 2011 protests.<ref>Joachim Becker: "Nujno je treba zavreti poglabljanje neoliberalizma v Evropski uniji, saj je to slepa ulica" Template:Webarchive, an interview with Joachim Becker, Mladina, 23 November 2012</ref> In relation to the leading politicians' response to allegations made by the official Commission for the Prevention of Corruption of the Republic of Slovenia, legal experts expressed the need for changes in the system that would limit political arbitrariness.<ref>A Symposium of Law Experts. Political arbitrariness has gone wild. (In Slovene: "Posvet pravnikov. Samovolja politikov presega vse meje"), Dnevnik, 18 Januar 2013.</ref>Template:Context inline
Geography
[edit]Template:Main Template:See also Slovenia is in Southern Europe touching the east Alps and bordering the Mediterranean Sea.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This locates Slovenia within the Mediterranean basin.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It lies between latitudes 45° and 47° N, and longitudes 13° and 17° E. The 15th meridian east almost corresponds to the middle line of the country in the direction west–east.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Geometric Centre of the Republic of Slovenia is located at coordinates 46°07'11.8" N and 14°48'55.2" E.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It lies in Slivna in the Municipality of Litija.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Slovenia's highest peak is Triglav (Template:Cvt); the country's average height above sea level is Template:Cvt: it has become a national symbol of Slovenia, featuring on the national coat of arms and flag.
Four major European geographic regions meet in Slovenia: the Alps, the Dinarides, the Pannonian Plain, and the Mediterranean Sea. Although on the shore of the Adriatic Sea near the Mediterranean Sea, most of Slovenia is in the Black Sea drainage basin. The Alps—including the Julian Alps, the Kamnik-Savinja Alps and the Karawank chain, as well as the Pohorje massif—dominate Northern Slovenia along its long border with Austria. Slovenia's Adriatic coastline stretches approximately Template:Convert<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> from Italy to Croatia.
The term "Karst topography" refers to that of southwestern Slovenia's Karst Plateau, a limestone region of underground rivers, gorges, and caves, between Ljubljana and the Mediterranean Sea. On the Pannonian plain to the East and Northeast, toward the Croatian and Hungarian borders, the landscape is essentially flat. However, most of Slovenia is hilly or mountainous, with around 90% of its land surface Template:Cvt or more above sea level.
More than half of Slovenia, which is Template:Convert, is forested;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> ranking it third in Europe, by percentage of area forested, after Finland and Sweden. The areas are covered mostly by beech, fir-beech and beech-oak forests and have a relatively high production capacity.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Remnants of primeval forests are still to be found, the largest in the Kočevje area. Grassland covers Template:Cvt and fields and gardens (Template:Cvt). There are Template:Cvt of orchards and Template:Cvt of vineyards.Template:Citation needed
Geology
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Slovenia is in a rather active seismic zone because of its position on the small Adriatic Plate, which is squeezed between the Eurasian Plate to the north and the African Plate to the south and rotates counter-clockwise.<ref name="Seisme">Template:Cite web</ref> Thus the country is at the junction of three important geotectonic units: the Alps to the north, the Dinaric Alps to the south and the Pannonian Basin to the east.<ref name="Seisme"/> Scientists have been able to identify 60 destructive earthquakes in the past. Additionally, a network of seismic stations is active throughout the country.<ref name="Seisme"/>
Many parts of Slovenia have a carbonate bedrock and extensive cave systems have developed.
Natural regions
[edit]The first regionalisations of Slovenia were made by geographers Anton Melik (1935–1936) and Svetozar Ilešič (1968). The newer regionalisation by Ivan Gams divided Slovenia in the following macroregions:<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
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- the Alps (Alpe)
- the subalpine landscapes (predalpski svet)
- the Slovene Littoral or Submediterranean Slovenia (Primorje or submediteranska Slovenija)
- the Dinaric plateaus of the continental Slovenia (dinarske planote celinske Slovenije)
- Subpannonian Slovenia (subpanonska Slovenija)
According to a newer natural geographic regionalisation, the country consists of four macroregions. These are the Alpine, the Mediterranean, the Dinaric, and the Pannonian landscapes. Macroregions are defined according to major relief units (the Alps, the Pannonian plain, the Dinaric mountains) and climate types (submediterranean, temperate continental, mountain climate).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> These are often quite interwoven.
Protected areas of Slovenia include national parks, regional parks, and nature parks, the largest of which is Triglav National Park. There are 286 Natura 2000 designated protected areas, which include 36% of the country's land area, the largest percentage among European Union states.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Additionally, according to Yale University's Environmental Performance Index, Slovenia is considered a "strong performer" in environmental protection efforts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Climate
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Slovenia is located in temperate latitudes. The climate is also influenced by the variety of relief, and the influence of the Alps and the Adriatic Sea. In the northeast, the continental climate type with the greatest difference between winter and summer temperatures prevails. In the coastal region, there is a sub-Mediterranean climate. The effect of the sea on the temperature rates is also visible up the Soča Valley, while a severe Alpine climate is present in the high mountain regions. There is a strong interaction between these three climatic systems across most of the country.<ref name="arso.gov.si">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="arso.gov.si Meteo Archive">Template:Cite web</ref>
Precipitation, often coming from the Gulf of Genoa,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> varies across the country as well, with over Template:Convert in some western regions and dropping down to Template:Convert in Prekmurje. Snow is quite frequent in winter and the record snow cover in Ljubljana was recorded in 1952 at Template:Convert.
Compared to Western Europe, Slovenia is not very windy, because it lies in the slipstream of the Alps. The average wind speeds are lower than in the plains of the nearby countries. Due to the rugged terrain, local vertical winds with daily periods are present. Besides these, there are three winds of particular regional importance: the bora, the jugo, and the foehn. The jugo and the bora are characteristic of the Littoral. Whereas the jugo is humid and warm, the bora is usually cold and gusty. The foehn is typical of the Alpine regions in the north of Slovenia. Generally present in Slovenia are the northeast wind, the southeast wind and the north wind.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Waters
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The territory of Slovenia mainly (Template:Convert, i.e. 81%) belongs to the Black Sea basin, and a smaller part (Template:Convert, i.e. 19%) belongs to the Adriatic Sea basin. These two parts are divided into smaller units in regard to their central rivers, the Mura River basin, the Drava River basin, the Sava River basin with Kolpa River basin, and the basin of the Adriatic rivers.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In comparison with other developed countries, water quality in Slovenia is considered to be among the highest in Europe. One of the reasons is undoubtedly that most of the rivers rise on the mountainous territory of Slovenia. However, this does not mean that Slovenia has no problems with surface water and groundwater quality, especially in areas with intensive farming.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Biodiversity
[edit]
Slovenia signed the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity on 13 June 1992 and became a party to the convention on 9 July 1996.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It subsequently produced a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, which was received by the convention on 30 May 2002.
Slovenia is distinguished by an exceptionally wide variety of habitats,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> due to the contact of geological units and biogeographical regions, and due to human influences. The country is home to four terrestrial ecoregions: Dinaric Mountains mixed forests, Pannonian mixed forests, Alps conifer and mixed forests, and Illyrian deciduous forests.<ref name="DinersteinOlson2017">Template:Cite journal</ref> Around 12.5% of the territory is protected with 35.5% in the Natura 2000 ecological network.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Despite this, because of pollution and environmental degradation, diversity has been in decline. Slovenia had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 3.78/10, ranking it 140th globally out of 172 countries.<ref name="FLII-Supplementary">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Animals
[edit]The biological diversity of the country is high, with 1% of the world's organisms on 0.004% of the Earth's surface area.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There are 75 mammal species, among them marmots, Alpine ibex, and chamois. There are numerous deer, roe deer, boar, and hares.<ref name="NFPRes">Template:Cite book</ref> The edible dormouse is often found in the Slovenian beech forests. Trapping these animals is a long tradition and is part of Slovenian national identity.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Some important carnivores include the Eurasian lynx,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> European wild cats, foxes (especially the red fox), and European jackal.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> There are hedgehogs, martens, and snakes such as vipers and grass snakes. According to recent estimates, Slovenia has c. 40–60 wolves<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and about 450 brown bears.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Slovenia is home to an exceptionally diverse number of cave species, with a few tens of endemic species.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Among the cave vertebrates, the only known one is the olm, living in Karst, Lower Carniola, and White Carniola.
The only regular species of cetaceans found in the northern Adriatic sea is the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
There are a wide variety of birds, such as the tawny owl, the long-eared owl, the eagle owl, hawks, and short-toed eagles. Other birds of prey have been recorded, as well as a growing number of ravens, crows and magpies migrating into Ljubljana and Maribor where they thrive.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Other birds include black and green woodpeckers and the white stork, which nests mainly in Prekmurje.
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There are 13 domestic animals native to Slovenia,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> of eight species (hen, pig, dog, horse, sheep, goat, honey bee, and cattle).<ref name="Meglič2003">Template:Cite bookTemplate:Dead link</ref> Among these are the Karst Shepherd,<ref name="FCI2009doc">Template:Cite web</ref> the Carniolan honeybee, and the Lipizzan horse.<ref name="Meglič2003"/> The marble trout or marmorata (Salmo marmoratus) is an indigenous Slovenian fish.<ref name="Balkan Trout Restoration Group">Template:Cite web</ref> Extensive breeding programmes have been introduced to repopulate the marble trout into lakes and streams invaded by non-indigenous species of trout. Slovenia is also home to the wels catfish.
More than 2,400 fungal species have been recorded from Slovenia<ref>Dušan Jurc, Andrej Piltaver & Nikica Ogris. Glive Slovenije – Fungi of Slovenia (Ljubljana, 2005). 497 pp.</ref> and, since that figure does not include lichen-forming fungi, the total number of Slovenian fungi already known is undoubtedly much higher. Many more remain to be discovered.
Slovenia is the third most-forested country in Europe,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> with 58.3% of the territory covered by forests.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The forests are an important natural resource, and logging is kept to a minimum.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the interior of the country are typical Central European forests, predominantly oak and beech. In the mountains, spruce, fir, and pine are more common. Pine trees grow on the Karst Plateau, although only one-third of the region is covered by pine forest. The lime/linden tree, common in Slovenian forests, is a national symbol. The tree line is at Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In the Alps, flowers such as Daphne blagayana, gentians (Gentiana clusii, Gentiana froelichii), Primula auricula, edelweiss (the symbol of Slovene mountaineering), Cypripedium calceolus, Fritillaria meleagris (snake's head fritillary), and Pulsatilla grandis are found.
Slovenia harbors many plants of ethnobotanically useful groups. Of 59 known species of ethnobotanical importance, some species such as Aconitum napellus, Cannabis sativa and Taxus baccata are restricted for use as per the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Government and politics
[edit]Template:Main Template:See also Template:Multiple image
Slovenia is a parliamentary democracy republic with a multi-party system. The head of state is the president, who is elected by popular vote and has an important integrative role.<ref name="Furtlehner">Template:Cite book</ref> The president is elected for five years and at maximum for two consecutive terms. The president has a representative role and is the commander-in-chief of the Slovenian armed forces.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
The executive and administrative authority in Slovenia is held by the Government of Slovenia (Template:Lang),<ref name="Borak2004"/> headed by the Prime Minister and the council of ministers or cabinet, who are elected by the National Assembly (Template:Lang). The legislative authority is held by the bicameral Parliament of Slovenia, characterised by an asymmetric duality.Template:Clarify<ref name="Prunk2007">Template:Cite book</ref> The bulk of power is concentrated in the National Assembly, which consists of ninety members. Of those, 88 are elected by all the citizens in a system of proportional representation, whereas two are elected by the registered members of the autochthonous Hungarian and Italian minorities. Elections take place every four years. The National Council (Template:Lang), consisting of forty members, appointed to represent social, economic, professional and local interest groups, has a limited advisory and control power.<ref name="Prunk2007"/> The 1992–2004 period was marked by the rule of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia, which was responsible for gradual transition from the Titoist economy to the capitalist market economy. It later attracted much criticism by neo-liberal economists, who demanded a less gradual approach. The party's president Janez Drnovšek, who served as prime minister between 1992 and 2002, was one of the most influential Slovenian politicians of the 1990s,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> alongside President Milan Kučan (who served between 1990 and 2002).<ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Dead link</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The 2005–2008 period was characterized by over-enthusiasm after joining the EU. During the first term of Janez Janša's government, for the first time after independence, the Slovenian banks saw their loan-deposit ratios veering out of control. There was over-borrowing from foreign banks and then over-crediting of customers, including local business magnates. After the onset of the Great Recession and European sovereign-debt crisis, the left-wing coalition that replaced Janša's government in the 2008 elections, had to face the consequences of the 2005–2008 over-borrowing. Attempts to implement reforms that would help economic recovery were met by student protesters, led by a student who later became a member of Janez Janša's SDS, and by the trade unions. The proposed reforms were postponed in a referendum. The left-wing government was ousted with a vote of no confidence.
In March 2020, Janez Janša became prime minister for third time in the new coalition government of SDS, the Modern Centre Party (SMC), New Slovenia (NSi) and Pensioners' Party (DeSUS).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Janez Janša was known as a right-wing populist and a supporter of former US President Donald Trump and right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In April 2022, liberal opposition, the Freedom Movement, won the parliamentary election. The Freedom Movement won 34.5% of the vote, compared with 23.6% for Janša's Slovenian Democratic party.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On 25 May 2022, Slovenia's parliament voted to appoint the leader of Freedom Movement, Robert Golob, as the new Prime Minister of Slovenia.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Judiciary
[edit]Template:Main Judicial powers in Slovenia are executed by judges, who are elected by the National Assembly. Judicial power in Slovenia is implemented by courts with general responsibilities and specialised courts that deal with matters relating to specific legal areas. The State Prosecutor is an independent state authority responsible for prosecuting cases brought against those suspected of committing criminal offences. The Constitutional Court, composed of nine judges elected for nine-year terms, decides on the conformity of laws with the Constitution; all laws and regulations must also conform with the general principles of international law and with ratified international agreements.<ref name="culture.si"/>
Military
[edit]Template:Main The Slovenian Armed Forces provide military defence independently or within an alliance, in accordance with international agreements. Since conscription was abolished in 2003, it is organized as a fully professional standing army.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Commander-in-Chief is the President of the Republic of Slovenia, while operational command is in the domain of the Chief of the General Staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces. In 2016, military spending was an estimated 0.91% of the country's GDP. Since joining NATO, the Slovenian Armed Forces have taken a more active part in supporting international peace. They have participated in peace support operations and humanitarian activities. Among others, Slovenian soldiers are part of the international forces serving in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Afghanistan.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to the 2024 Global Peace Index, the country is the 9th most peaceful country in the world.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Administrative divisions and traditional regions
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Municipalities
[edit]Officially, Slovenia is subdivided into 212 municipalities (twelve of which have the status of urban municipalities). The municipalities are the only bodies of local autonomy in Slovenia. Each municipality is headed by a mayor (župan), elected every four years by popular vote, and a municipal council (občinski svet). In the majority of municipalities, the municipal council is elected through the system of proportional representation; only a few smaller municipalities use the plurality voting system. In the urban municipalities, the municipal councils are called town (or city) councils.<ref name="www2.gov.si">Template:Cite web</ref> Every municipality also has a Head of the Municipal Administration (načelnik občinske uprave), appointed by the mayor, who is responsible for the functioning of the local administration.<ref name="www2.gov.si"/>
Administrative divisions
[edit]There is no official intermediate unit between the municipalities and the Republic of Slovenia. The 62 administrative districts, officially called "Administrative Units" (upravne enote), are only subdivisions of the national government administration and are named after their respective bases of government offices.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Traditional regions and identities
[edit]Slovenia's traditional regions are based on the former Habsburg crown lands, which included Carniola, Carinthia, Styria, and the Littoral. Stronger than with either Carniola as a whole, or with Slovenia as a state, Slovenes tend to identify themselves with the traditional regions of the Slovene Littoral, Prekmurje, and traditional (sub)regions, such as Upper Carniola, Lower Carniola, and, to a lesser extent, Inner Carniola.<ref name="Repe_deželani_ali_državljani">Repe, Božo (2003) Od deželana do državljana: Regionalni razvoj Slovencev v letih 1918–1991 Template:Webarchive, Zgodovinski časopis, 3–4, Ljubljana.</ref>
The capital city Ljubljana was historically the administrative seat of Carniola and belonged to Inner Carniola,<ref name="Mehle">Template:Cite news</ref> except for the Šentvid district, which was in Upper Carniola and also where the border between German-annexed territory and the Italian Province of Ljubljana was during the Second World War.<ref name="Mehle"/>
Statistical regions
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The 12 statistical regions have no administrative function and are subdivided into two macroregions for the purpose of the Regional policy of the European Union.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> These two macroregions are:
- Eastern Slovenia (Vzhodna Slovenija – SI01), which groups the Mura, Drava, Carinthia, Savinja, Central Sava, Lower Sava, Southeast Slovenia, and Inner Carniola–Karst statistical regions.
- Western Slovenia (Zahodna Slovenija – SI02), which groups the Central Slovenia, Upper Carniola, Gorizia, and Coastal–Karst statistical regions.
Economy
[edit]Template:Main Slovenia has a developed economy and is the richest Slavic country by GDP per capita.<ref name="rich2">Template:Cite web</ref> Slovenia is also among the top global economies in terms of human capital.<ref name="hdi">The World Bank: the human capital index (HCI), 2018. Retrieved 8. October 2019.</ref> It is the most developed transition country with an old mining-industrial tradition, chemical industry, and developed service activities. Slovenia was in the beginning of 2007 the first new member to introduce the euro as its currency, replacing the tolar. Since 2010, it has been member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.<ref name="VE2012-03-15"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> There is a big difference in prosperity between the various regions. The economically wealthiest regions are the Central Slovenia region, which includes the capital Ljubljana and the western Slovenian regions (the Gorizia and Coastal–Karst Statistical Regions), while the least wealthy regions are the Mura, Central Sava, and Littoral–Inner Carniola Statistical Regions.<ref name="bslo">"Regional Disparities in Slovenia 2/12"; retrieved 8 April 2015.</ref>
Economic growth
[edit]Template:More citations needed section
In 2004–06, the economy grew on average by nearly 5% a year in Slovenia; in 2007, it expanded by almost 7%. The growth surge was fuelled by debt, particularly among firms, and especially in construction. The Great Recession and European sovereign-debt crisis had a significant impact on the domestic economy.<ref name="Slovenia's Economy: Next in Line">Template:Cite news</ref> The construction industry was severely hit in 2010 and 2011.<ref name="ST2012-03-13">Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2009, Slovenian GDP per capita shrank by 8%, the biggest decline in the European Union after the Baltic countries and Finland. An increasing burden for the Slovenian economy has been its rapidly aging population.<ref name="CNBC2012-01-23">Template:Cite news</ref>
In August 2012, the year-on-year contraction was 0.8%; however, 0.2% growth was recorded in the first quarter (in relation to the quarter before, after data was adjusted according to season and working days).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Year-on-year contraction has been attributed to the fall in domestic consumption and the slowdown in export growth. The decrease in domestic consumption has been attributed to the fiscal austerity, to the freeze on budget expenditure in the final months of 2011,<ref name="Bloomberg">Template:Cite news</ref> to the failure of the efforts to implement economic reforms, to inappropriate financing, and to the decrease in exports.<ref name="RTV2012-02-29">Template:Cite news</ref>
Due to the effects of the crisis, it was expected that several banks had to be bailed out by EU funds in 2013; however, needed capital was able to be covered by the country's own funds. Fiscal actions and legislations aiming on the reduction of spendings as well as several privatisations supported an economic recovery as from 2014.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The real economic growth rate was at 2.5% in 2016 and accelerated to 5% in 2017.<ref name="auto">Template:Cite web</ref> The construction sector has seen a recent increase,<ref name="auto"/> and the tourism industry is expected to have continuous rising numbers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Since 2017, Slovenia has experienced moderate economic growth, with GDP growth averaging around 2% per year between 2017 and 2019. However, like many other countries, Slovenia's economy has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with a contraction of around 5% in 2020. Overall, Slovenia's economy is relatively small but open and has shown resilience in recent years.
Slovenia's manufacturing sector is one of the largest contributors to the country's economy, accounting for around 25% of GDP. The country has a strong tradition in manufacturing, particularly in the areas of automotive and electrical engineering. Other important sectors include services, which account for around 65% of GDP, and agriculture, forestry, and fishing, which account for around 2% of GDP.
Slovenia is a highly export-oriented economy, with exports accounting for around 80% of GDP. The country's main export partners are other European countries, particularly Germany, Italy, and Austria. Key exports include machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods, and chemicals.
The government of Slovenia has implemented a range of policies aimed at promoting economic growth and development. These include efforts to attract foreign investment, reduce red tape, and increase investment in research and development. The country has also introduced reforms aimed at improving the efficiency of its labor market and increasing the flexibility of its economy. The government's approach to consulting business associations has been noted by the European Commission as a good practice example.<ref>European Commission Expert Group, Report of the Expert Group: Think Small First – Considering SME interests in policy-making - Executive Summary, published on 31 March 2009, accessed on 2 September 2024</ref>
Services and industry
[edit]Almost two-thirds of people are employed in services, and over one-third in industry and construction.<ref name="CIA">Template:Cite web</ref> Slovenia benefits from a well-educated workforce, well-developed infrastructure, and its location at the crossroads of major trade routes.<ref name="VE2012-03-15">Template:Cite web</ref>
The level of foreign direct investment (FDI) per capita in Slovenia is one of the lowest in the EU,<ref name="VE2012-03-15"/> and the labor productivity and the competitiveness of the Slovenian economy is still significantly below the EU average.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Taxes are relatively high, the labor market is seen by business interests as being inflexible, and industries are losing sales to China, India, and elsewhere.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
High level of openness makes Slovenia extremely sensitive to economic conditions in its main trading partners and changes in its international price competitiveness.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The main industries are motor vehicles, electric and electronic equipment, machinery, pharmaceuticals, and fuels.<ref name="VE2012-03-15"/> Examples of major Slovenian companies operating in Slovenia include the home appliance manufacturer Gorenje, the pharmaceutical companies Krka and Lek (Novartis' subsidiary), the oil distributing company Petrol Group, energy distribution companys GEN, GEN-I, HSE and Revoz, a manufacturing subsidiary of Renault.<ref>"Gorenje, Krka Biggest Exporters of 2012" Template:Webarchive. Retrieved 16 April 2017.</ref><ref>"18 Slovenian Firms in Deloitte Central Europe Top 500" Template:Webarchive. Retrieved 16 April 2017.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Energy
[edit]
In 2018, the net energy production was 12,262 GWh and consumption was 14,501 GWh. Hydroelectric plants produced 4,421 GWh, thermal plants produced 4,049 GWh, and the Krško Nuclear Power Plant produced 2,742 GWh (50% share that goes to Slovenia; other 50% goes to Croatia due to joint ownership). Domestic electricity consumption was covered 84.6% by domestic production; the percentage is decreasing from year to year meaning Slovenia is more and more dependent on electricity imports.<ref name="agencija">Template:Cite web</ref>
A new 600 MW block of Šoštanj thermal power plant finished construction and went online in the autumn of 2014.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The new 39.5 MW HE Krško hydro power plant was finished in 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The 41.5 MW HE Brežice and 30.5 MW HE Mokrice hydro power plants were built on the Sava River in 2018 and the construction of ten more hydropower plants with a cumulative capacity of 338 MW is planned to be finished by 2030. A large pumped-storage hydro power plant Kozjak on the Drava River is in the planning stage.
At the end of 2018, at least 295 MWp of photovoltaic modules and 31,4 MW of biogas powerplants were installed. Compared to 2017, renewable energy sources contributed 5.6 percentage points more into whole energy consumption. There is interest to add more production in the area of solar and wind energy sources (subsidising schemes are increasing economic feasibility), but microlocation settlement procedures take enormous toll on the efficiency of this intitiatve (nature preservation vs. energy production facilities dilemma).<ref name="agencija"/>
Tourism
[edit]
Slovenia offers tourists a wide variety of natural and cultural amenities. Different forms of tourism have developed. The tourist gravitational area is considerably large, however the tourist market is small. There has been no large-scale tourism and no acute environmental pressures;<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> in 2017, National Geographic Traveller's Magazine declared Slovenia as the country with the world's most sustainable tourism.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The nation's capital, Ljubljana, has many important Baroque and Vienna Secession buildings, with several important works of the native born architect Jože Plečnik.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
At the northwestern corner of the country lie the Julian Alps with Lake Bled and the Soča Valley, as well as the nation's highest peak, Mount Triglav in the middle of Triglav National Park. Other mountain ranges include Kamnik–Savinja Alps, the Karawanks, and Pohorje, popular with skiers and hikers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Karst Plateau in the Slovene Littoral gave its name to karst, a landscape shaped by water dissolving the carbonate bedrock, forming caves. The best-known caves are Postojna Cave and the UNESCO-listed Škocjan Caves. The region of Slovenian Istria meets the Adriatic Sea, where the most important historical monument is the Venetian Gothic Mediterranean town of Piran while the settlement of Portorož attracts crowds in summer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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The hills around Slovenia's second-largest city, Maribor, are renowned for their wine-making. The northeastern part of the country is rich with spas,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> with Rogaška Slatina, Radenci, Čatež ob Savi, Dobrna, and Moravske Toplice growing in importance in the last two decades.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Other popular tourist destinations include the historic cities of Ptuj and Škofja Loka, and several castles, such as Predjama Castle.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Important parts of tourism in Slovenia include congress and gambling tourism. Slovenia is the country with the highest percentage of casinos per 1,000 inhabitants in the European Union.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Perla in Nova Gorica is the largest casino in the region.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Most of foreign tourists to Slovenia come from the key European markets: Italy, Austria, Germany, Croatia, Belgium, Netherlands, Serbia, Russia and Ukraine, followed by United Kingdom and Ireland.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> European tourists create more than 90% of Slovenia's tourist income. In 2016, Slovenia was declared the world's first green country by the Netherlands-based organization Green Destinations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On being declared the most sustainable country in 2016, Slovenia had a big part to play at the ITB Berlin to promote sustainable tourism.
Transport
[edit]Template:Main Geography has dictated transport routes in Slovenia. Significant mountain ranges, major rivers and proximity to the Danube played roles in the development of the area's transportation corridors. One recent particular advantage are the Pan-European transport corridors V (the fastest link between the North Adriatic, and Central and Eastern Europe) and X (linking Central Europe with the Balkans). This gives it a special position in the European social, economic and cultural integration and restructuring.<ref name="UKOM2000-11">Template:Cite web</ref>
Roads
[edit]The road freight and passenger transport constitutes the largest part of transport in Slovenia at 80%.<ref name="MW2009SORS">Template:Cite web</ref> Personal cars are much more popular than public road passenger transport, which has significantly declined.<ref name="MW2009SORS"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Slovenia has a very high highway and motorway density compared to the European Union average.<ref name="ECORYS2011">Template:Cite book</ref> The highway system, the construction of which was accelerated after 1994,<ref name="Oplotnik2004">Template:Cite conference</ref> has slowly but steadily transformed Slovenia into a large conurbation.<ref>Template:Cite conferenceTemplate:Dead link</ref> Other state roads have been rapidly deteriorating because of neglect and the overall increase in traffic.<ref name="ECORYS2011"/>
Railways
[edit]The existing Slovenian railways are out-of-date and have difficulty competing with the motorway network; partially also as a result of dispersed population settlement.<ref name="ARSO420">Template:Cite web</ref> Due to this fact and the projected increase in traffic through the port of Koper, which is primarily by train, a second rail on the Koper-Divača route is in early stages of starting construction.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> With a lack of financial assets, maintenance and modernisation of the Slovenian railway network have been neglected.<ref name="UNIMB2011-04">Template:Cite book</ref> Due to the out-of-date infrastructure, the share of the railway freight transport has been in decline in Slovenia.<ref name="ARS416">Template:Cite web</ref> The railway passenger transport has been recovering after a large drop in the 1990s.<ref name=ARS416/> The Pan-European railway corridors V and X, and several other major European rail lines intersect in Slovenia.<ref name="UNIMB2011-04"/>
Ports
[edit]The major Slovenian port is the Port of Koper. It is the largest Northern Adriatic port in terms of container transport,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> with almost 590,000 TEUs annually<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and lines to all major world ports.<ref name="ECONSHIP2011"/><ref name="AH2008-16-3GA">Template:Cite journal</ref> It is much closer to destinations east of the Suez than the ports of Northern Europe.<ref name="ECONSHIP2011">Template:Cite conferenceTemplate:Dead link</ref> In addition, the maritime passenger traffic mostly takes place in Koper.<ref name="RR21">Template:Cite journal</ref> Two smaller ports used for the international passenger transport as well as cargo transport are located in Izola and Piran. Passenger transport mainly takes place with Italy and Croatia.<ref name="ReNPRP">Template:Cite web</ref> Splošna plovba,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the only Slovenian shipping company, transports freight and is active only in foreign ports.<ref name="RR21"/>
Air
[edit]Air transport in Slovenia is very low,<ref name="ARS416"/> but has significantly grown since 1991.<ref name="RR26">Template:Cite journal</ref> Of the three international airports in Slovenia, Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport in central Slovenia is the busiest,<ref name="RR26"/> with connections to many major European destinations.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Maribor Edvard Rusjan Airport is located in the eastern part of the country and the Portorož Airport in the west.<ref name="RR26"/> The state-owned Adria Airways was the largest Slovenian airline; however in 2019 it declared bankruptcy and ceased operations.<ref name="RR26"/> Since 2003, several new carriers have entered the market, mainly low-cost airlines.<ref name="ECORYS2011"/> The only Slovenian military airport is the Cerklje ob Krki Air Base in the southwest.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> There are also 12 public airports in Slovenia.<ref name="RR26"/>
Demographics
[edit]
The population of Slovenia as of October 2024 is 2,129,052.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> With 105 inhabitants per square kilometer (272/sq mi), Slovenia ranks low among the European countries in population density (compared to Template:Convert for the Netherlands or Template:Convert for Italy). The Inner Carniola–Karst Statistical Region has the lowest population density while the Central Slovenia Statistical Region has the highest.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Slovenia is among the European countries with the most pronounced ageing of its population, ascribable to a low birth rate and increasing life expectancy.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Almost all Slovenian inhabitants older than 64 are retired, with no significant difference between the genders.<ref name="Hoff2011">Template:Cite book</ref> The working-age group is diminishing in spite of immigration.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The proposal to raise the retirement age from the current 57 for women and 58 for men was rejected in a referendum in 2011.<ref name="CNBC2012-01-23"/> In addition, the difference among the genders regarding life expectancy is still significant.<ref name="Hoff2011"/> The total fertility rate (TFR) in 2024 was estimated at 1.6 children born/woman, which is lower than the replacement rate of 2.1.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The majority of children are born to unmarried women (in 2023, 56.5% of all births were outside of marriage).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2023, life expectancy at birth was 82 years (79.1 years male, and 85 years female).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2020, the suicide rate in Slovenia was 17 per 100,000 persons per year, which places Slovenia among the highest ranked European countries.<ref name="stat2009suicide">Template:Cite web</ref> Nonetheless, from 2000 until 2010, the rate has decreased by about 30%. The differences between regions and the genders are pronounced.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Ethnic structure
[edit]The largest ethnic groups in Slovenia are Slovenes (83.1%), Serbs (2.0%), Croats (1.8%), Bosniaks (1.6%), Muslims (0.5%), Bosnians (0.4%), Hungarians (0.3%), Albanians (0.3%) and Roma (0.2%). Other ethnic groups in Slovenia include Macedonians, Italians, Montenegrins and Germans.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Urbanisation
[edit]Template:Main Depending on definition, between 65% and 79% of people live in wider urban areas.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According to OECD definition of rural areas none of the Slovene statistical regions is mostly urbanised, meaning that 15% or less of the population lives in rural communities. According to this definition statistical regions are classified:
- mostly rural regions: Mura, Drava, Carinthia, Savinja, Lower Sava, Littoral–Inner Carniola, Gorizia, Southeast Slovenia
- moderately rural regions: Central Sava, Upper Carniola, Coastal–Karst, Central Slovenia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The only large town is the capital, Ljubljana. Other (medium-sized) towns include Maribor, Celje, and Kranj.<ref name="GV52-2">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Overall, there are eleven urban municipalities in Slovenia. Template:Largest cities Template:Col-begin Template:Col-break Template:Col-end
Languages
[edit]Template:Main The official language in Slovenia is Slovene, which is a member of the South Slavic language group. In 2002, Slovene was the native language of around 88% of Slovenia's population according to the census, with more than 92% of the Slovenian population speaking it in their home environment.<ref name="siol.net">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="stat.si">Template:Cite book</ref> This statistic ranks Slovenia among the most homogeneous countries in the EU in terms of the share of speakers of the predominant mother tongue.<ref name="Dular">Template:Cite news</ref>
Slovene is a highly diverse Slavic language in terms of dialects,<ref name="MLD 2009">Template:Cite news</ref> with different degrees of mutual intelligibility. Accounts of the number of dialects range from as few as seven<ref>McDonald, Gordon C. 1979. Yugoslavia: A Country Study. Washington, DC: American University, p. 93</ref><ref>Greenberg, Marc L. 2009. "Slovene." In Keith Brown & Sarah Ogilvie (eds.), Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World, pp. 981–984. Oxford: Elsevier, p. 981.</ref><ref>Brown, E. K. & Anne Anderson. 2006. Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics: Sca-Spe. Oxford: Elsevier, p. 424</ref> dialects, often considered dialect groups or dialect bases that are further subdivided into as many as 50 dialects.<ref>Sussex, Roland, & Paul V. Cubberley. 2006. The Slavic languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 502.</ref> Other sources characterize the number of dialects as nine<ref>Sławski, Franciszek. 1962. Zarys dialektologii południowosłowiańskiej. Warsaw: PAN.</ref> or as eight.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Hungarian and Italian, spoken by the respective minorities, enjoy the status of official languages in the ethnically mixed regions along the Hungarian and Italian borders, to the extent that even the passports issued in those areas are bilingual. In 2002 around 0.2% of the Slovenian population spoke Italian and around 0.4% spoke Hungarian as their native language. Hungarian is co-official with Slovene in 30 settlements in 5 municipalities (whereof 3 are officially bilingual). Italian is co-official with Slovene in 25 settlements in 4 municipalities (all of them officially bilingual).
Romani,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> spoken in 2002 as the native language by 0.2% of people, is a legally protected language in Slovenia. Romani speakers mainly belong to the geographically dispersed and marginalized Roma community.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
German, which used to be the largest minority language in Slovenia prior to World War II (around 4% of the population in 1921), is now the native language of only around 0.08% of the population, the majority of whom are more than 60 years old.<ref name="stat.si"/> Gottscheerish or Granish, the traditional German dialect of Gottschee County, faces extinction.<ref name="norwaysi">Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>
A significant number of people in Slovenia speak a variant of Serbo-Croatian (Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, or Montenegrin) as their native language. These are mostly families who moved to Slovenia from other former Yugoslav republics. Altogether, Serbo-Croatian in its different forms is the second natively spoken language in Slovenia with 5.9% of population. In 2002, 0.4% of the Slovenian population declared themselves to be native speakers of Albanian and 0.2% native speakers of Macedonian.<ref name="stat.si"/> Czech, the fourth-largest minority language in Slovenia prior to World War II (after German, Hungarian, and Serbo-Croatian), is now the native language of a few hundred residents of Slovenia.<ref name="stat.si"/>
Slovenia ranks among the top European countries in knowledge of foreign languages. The most taught foreign languages are English, German, Italian, French and Spanish. Template:As of, 92% of the population between the age of 25 and 64 spoke at least one foreign language and around 71.8% of them spoke at least two foreign languages, which was the highest percentage in the European Union.<ref>European Day of Languages Template:Webarchive, Eurostat Newsrelease, 24 September 2009</ref> According to the Eurobarometer survey, Template:As of the majority of Slovenes could speak Croatian (61%) and English (56%).<ref name="EurobarLang">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Rp A reported 42% of Slovenes could speak German, which was one of the highest percentages outside German-speaking countries.<ref name="EurobarLang"/> Italian is widely spoken on the Slovenian Coast and in some other areas of the Slovene Littoral. Around 15% of Slovenians can speak Italian, which is (according to the Eurobarometer pool) the third-highest percentage in the European Union, after Italy and Malta.<ref> Template:Cite web </ref>
Immigration
[edit]In 2021, about 13.9% (292,824 people) of the population in Slovenia was born abroad.<ref name="SURS">Template:Cite web</ref> About 86% of the foreign-born population originated from other countries of former Yugoslavia as (in descending order) Bosnia-Herzegovina, followed by immigrants from Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo, and North Macedonia.<ref name="SURS" />
By the beginning of 2017, there were about 114,438 people with foreign citizenship residing in the country making up 5.5% of the total population. Of these foreigners, 76% had citizenships of the other countries from former Yugoslavia (excluding Croatia). Additionally 16.4% had EU-citizenships and 7.6% had citizenships of other countries.<ref name="SURS" />
According to the 2002 census, Slovenia's main ethnic group are Slovenes (83%); however, their share in the total population is continuously decreasing, due to their relatively low fertility rate. At least 13% (2002) of the population were immigrants from other parts of Former Yugoslavia and their descendants.<ref name="Medvesek">Template:Cite news</ref> They have settled mainly in cities and suburbanised areas.<ref name="Repolusk">Template:Cite news</ref> Relatively small but protected by the Constitution of Slovenia are the Hungarian and the Italian ethnic minority.<ref name="MDL2010">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Constitution">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A special position is held by the autochthonous and geographically dispersed Roma ethnic community.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The number of people immigrating into Slovenia rose steadily from 1995<ref name="autogenerated1">Template:Cite web</ref> and has been increasing even more rapidly in recent years. After Slovenia joined the EU in 2004, the annual number of immigrants doubled by 2006 and increased by half yet again by 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2007, Slovenia had one of the fastest growing net migration rates in the European Union.<ref name="autogenerated1"/>
Religion
[edit]
Before World War II, 97% of the Slovenian population identified as members of the Catholic Church in the country, around 2.5% as Lutheran, and around 0.5% of residents identified themselves as members of other denominations.<ref name="stat.si"/> After 1945, the country underwent a process of gradual but steady secularization. After a decade of persecution of religions, the Communist regime adopted a policy of relative tolerance towards churches. After 1990, the Catholic Church regained some of its former influence, but Slovenia remains a largely secularized society.
The 2018 Eurobarometer data shows 73.4% of population identifying as Catholic<ref name="EB2018"/> that fell to 72.1% in the 2019 Eurobarometer survey.<ref name="EB2019"/> According to the Catholic Church data, the Catholic population fell from 78.04% in 2009 to 72.11% in 2019<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The vast majority of Slovenian Catholics belong to the Latin Church. A small number of Eastern Catholics live in the White Carniola region.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Despite a relatively small number of Protestants (less than 1% in 2002), the Protestant legacy is historically significant given that the Slovene standard language and Slovene literature were established by the Protestant Reformation. Primoz Trubar, a theologian in the Lutheran tradition, was one of the most influential Protestant Reformers in Slovenia. Protestantism was extinguished in the Counter-Reformation implemented by the Habsburg dynasty, which controlled the region. It only survived in the easternmost regions due to protection of Hungarian nobles, who often happened to be Calvinist themselves. Today, a significant Lutheran minority lives in the easternmost region of Prekmurje, where they represent around a fifth of the population and are headed by a bishop with the seat in Murska Sobota.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The third largest denomination, with around 2.2% of the population, is the Eastern Orthodox Church, with most adherents belonging to the Serbian Orthodox Church while a minority belongs to the Macedonian and other Eastern Orthodox churches.Template:Citation needed
According to the 2002 census, Islam is the second largest religious denomination in the country, with around 2.4% of the population. Most Slovenian Muslims came from Bosnia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
There was a Slovenian Jewish community before the Holocaust.
In the 2002 around 10% of Slovenes declared themselves atheists, another 10% professed no specific denomination, and around 16% declined to answer. According to the Eurobarometer Poll 2010,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> 32% of Slovenian citizens "believe there is a god", whereas 36% "believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 26% "do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force".<ref name=":0" />
Education
[edit]Template:Main Slovenia's education ranks as the 12th best in the world and 4th best in the European Union, being significantly higher than the OECD average, according to the Programme for International Student Assessment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Among people age 25 to 64, 12% have attended higher education, while on average Slovenes have 9.6 years of formal education. According to an OECD report, 83% of adults ages 25–64 have earned the equivalent of a high school degree, well above the OECD average of 74%; among 25- to 34-year-olds, the rate is 93%.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to the 1991 census there is 99.6% literacy in Slovenia. Lifelong learning is also increasing.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
Responsibility for education oversight at primary and secondary level in Slovenia lies with the Ministry of Education and Sports. After non-compulsory pre-school education, children enter the nine-year primary school at the age of six.<ref>[1] Template:Webarchive</ref> Primary school is divided into three periods, each of three years. In the academic year 2006–2007 there were 166,000 pupils enrolled in elementary education and more than 13,225 teachers, giving a ratio of one teacher per 12 pupils and 20 pupils per class.
After completing elementary school, nearly all children (more than 98%) go on to secondary education, either vocational, technical, or general secondary programmes (gimnazija). The last concludes with the matura, a comprehensive exam that allows the graduates to enter a university. 84% of secondary school graduates go on to tertiary education.<ref name="ReferenceA">Template:Cite web</ref>
Among several universities in Slovenia, the best ranked is the University of Ljubljana, ranking among the first 500 or the first 3% of the world's best universities according to the ARWU.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Two other public universities include the University of Maribor<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in Styria region and the University of Primorska in Slovene Littoral.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In addition, there is a private University of Nova Gorica<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and an international EMUNI University.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Culture
[edit]Template:Main Template:Cleanup
Heritage
[edit]Slovenia's architectural heritage includes 2,500 churches, 1,000 castles, ruins, and manor houses, farmhouses, and special structures for drying hay, called hayracks (Template:Lang).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Four natural and cultural sites in Slovenia are on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. Škocjan Caves and its karst landscape are a protected site<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> as the old forests in the area of Goteniški Snežnik and Kočevski Rog in the SE Slovenia. The Idrija Mercury mining site is of world importance, as are the prehistoric pile dwellings in the Ljubljana Marsh.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The most picturesque church for photographers is the medieval and Baroque building on Bled Island. Near Postojna there is a fortress called Predjama Castle, half hidden in a cave. Museums in Ljubljana and elsewhere feature unique items such as the controversial Divje Babe flute, and the oldest wheel in the world. Ljubljana has medieval, Baroque, Art Nouveau, and modern architecture. The architect Plečnik's architecture and his innovative paths and bridges along the Ljubljanica are notable and on UNESCO tentative list.
Cuisine
[edit]
Slovenian cuisine is a mixture of Central European cuisine (especially Austrian and Hungarian), Mediterranean cuisine and Balkan cuisine. Historically, Slovenian cuisine was divided into town, farmhouse, cottage, castle, parsonage and monastic cuisines. Due to the variety of Slovenian cultural and natural landscapes, there are more than 40 distinct regional cuisines.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Ethnologically, the most characteristic Slovene dishes were one-pot dishes, such as ričet, Istrian stew (Template:Lang), minestrone (Template:Lang), and žganci buckwheat spoonbread; in the Prekmurje region there is also bujta repa, and prekmurska gibanica pastry. Prosciutto (Template:Lang) is a delicacy of the Slovene Littoral. The Template:Lang (a type of nut roll) has become a symbol of Slovenia, especially among the Slovene diaspora in the United States. Soups were added to the traditional one-pot meals and various kinds of porridge and stew only in relatively recent history.
Each year since 2000, the Roasted Potato Festival has been organized by the Society for the Recognition of Roasted Potatoes as a Distinct Dish. Roasted potatoes, which have been traditionally served in most Slovenian families only on Sundays, have been depicted on a special edition of post marks by the Post of Slovenia in 2012.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The best known sausage is kranjska klobasa. Slovenia is also the home of the world's oldest vine, which is 400 years old.
Slovenia has been awarded the European Region of Gastronomy title for the year 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Dance
[edit]Historically the most notable Slovenian ballet dancers and choreographers were Pino Mlakar,<ref>Umrl baletnik Pino Mlakar, Dnevnik, 2 October 2006</ref> who in 1927 graduated from the Rudolf Laban Choreographic Institute, and there met his future wife, balerina Maria Luiza Pia Beatrice Scholz. Together they worked as a leading dancer and a choreographer in Dessau, Zürich, and State opera in München.<ref name="Opera_si">Pia and Pino Mlakar Template:Webarchive, The Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana website</ref> Their plan to build a Slovenian dance centre at Rožnik Hill after the World War II was supported by the minister of culture, Ferdo Kozak, but was cancelled by his successor.<ref>Branko Miklavc: Na konec sveta bom potoval, samo da ju še enkrat vidim plesati, Dnevnik, 7 October 2006</ref> Pino Mlakar was also a full professor at the Academy for Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (AGRFT) of the University of Ljubljana. A Mary Wigman modern dance school was founded in the 1930s by her student, Meta Vidmar, in Ljubljana.<ref>Nika Arhar: Uprizarjanje zgodovine sodobnega plesa, MMC RTVSLO, 25 December 2015</ref>
Festivals, book fairs, and other events
[edit]A number of music, theatre, film, book, and children's festivals take place in Slovenia each year, including the music festivals Ljubljana Summer Festival and Lent Festival, the stand-up comedy Punch Festival, the children's Pippi Longstocking Festival, and the book festivals Slovene book fair and Frankfurt after the Frankfurt.
The most notable music festival of Slovene music was historically the Slovenska popevka festival.<ref>Slovenska popevka: velik poudarek na pevcih in skladateljih, pesniki bolj v oklepaju. Enkrat še zapoj: 50 let Slovenske popevke Vladimirja Frantarja pri celjski Mohorjevi družbi., Delo, 5. September 2012.</ref> Between 1981 and 2000 the Novi Rock festival was notable for bringing rock music across Iron curtain from the West to the Slovenian and then Yugoslav audience. The long tradition of jazz festivals in Titoist Yugoslavia began with the Ljubljana Jazz Festival which has been held annually in Slovenia since 1960.<ref>Ljubljana Jazz Festival Template:Webarchive, an official site (in English)</ref>
Film
[edit]Slovene film actors and actresses historically include Ida Kravanja, who played her roles as Ita Rina in the early European films, and Metka Bučar.<ref>Museum of Slovene Film Actors, Divača, official website.</ref> After WW II, one of the most notable film actors was Polde Bibič, who played a number of roles in many films that were well received in Slovenia, and also performed in television and radio drama.<ref name="Bibic_in_memoriam">Template:Cite news</ref>
Feature film and short film production in Slovenia historically includes Karol Grossmann, František Čap, France Štiglic, Igor Pretnar, Jože Pogačnik, Peter Zobec, Matjaž Klopčič, Boštjan Hladnik, Dušan Jovanović, Vitan Mal, Franci Slak, and Karpo Godina as its most established filmmakers. Contemporary film directors Filip Robar - Dorin, Jan Cvitkovič, Damjan Kozole, Janez Lapajne, Mitja Okorn, and Marko Naberšnik are among the representatives of the so-called "Renaissance of Slovenian cinema". Slovene screenwriters, who are not film directors, include Saša Vuga and Miha Mazzini. Women film directors include Polona Sepe, Hanna A. W. Slak, and Maja Weiss.<ref>Furlan, S. (1994) Filmografija slovenskih celovečernih filmov: 1931 – 1993. Slovenski gledališki in filmski muzej. Ljubljana.</ref>
Literature
[edit]
History of Slovene literature began in the 16th century with Primož Trubar and other Protestant Reformers. Poetry in Slovene achieved its highest level with the Romantic poet France Prešeren. In the 20th century, Slovene literary fiction went through several periods: the beginning of the century was marked by the authors of the Slovene Modernism, with the most influential Slovene writer and playwright, Ivan Cankar; it was then followed by expressionism (Srečko Kosovel), avantgardism (Anton Podbevšek, Ferdo Delak) and social realism (Ciril Kosmač, Prežihov Voranc) before World War II, the poetry of resistance and revolution (Karel Destovnik Kajuh, Matej Bor) during the war, and intimism (Poems of the Four, 1953), post-war modernism (Edvard Kocbek), and existentialism (Dane Zajc) after the war.Template:Citation needed
Postmodernist authors include Boris A. Novak, Marko Kravos, Drago Jančar, Evald Flisar, Tomaž Šalamun, and Brina Svit. Among the post-1990 authors best known are Aleš Debeljak, Miha Mazzini, and Alojz Ihan. There are several literary magazines that publish Slovene prose, poetry, essays, and local literary criticism.Template:Citation needed Today, notable authors include Slavoj Žižek, Mladen Dolar, Alenka Zupančič as well as Boris Pahor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Media
[edit]Music
[edit]
Music of Slovenia historically includes numerous musicians and composers, such as the Renaissance composer Jacobus Gallus, who greatly influenced Central European classical music, the Baroque composer Joannes Baptista Dolar, and the violin virtuoso Giuseppe Tartini.Template:Citation needed The first Slovenian hymnal, Eni Psalmi, was published in 1567. This period saw the rise of musicians like Jacobus Gallus and George Slatkonia.<ref>Oto Luthar The Land Between: A History of Slovenia</ref> In 1701, Johann Berthold von Höffer founded the Academia Philharmonicorum Labacensis, as one of the oldest such institutions in Europe, based on Italian models.<ref>George J. Buelow (2004) A History of Baroque Music, p. 701.</ref> Composers of Slovenian Lieder and art songs include Emil Adamič, Fran Gerbič, Alojz Geržinič, Benjamin Ipavec, Davorin Jenko, Anton Lajovic, Kamilo Mašek, Josip Pavčič, Zorko Prelovec, and Lucijan Marija Škerjanc.
In the early 20th century, impressionism was spreading across Slovenia, which soon produced composers Marij Kogoj and Slavko Osterc. Avant-garde classical music arose in Slovenia in the 1960s, largely due to the work of Uroš Krek, Dane Škerl, Primož Ramovš and Ivo Petrić, who also conducted the Slavko Osterc Ensemble. Jakob Jež, Darijan Božič, Lojze Lebič and Vinko Globokar have since composed enduring works, especially Globokar's L'Armonia, an opera.Template:Citation needed Modern composers include Uroš Rojko, Tomaž Svete, Brina Jež-Brezavšček, Božidar Kantušer and Aldo Kumar.
The Slovene National Opera and Ballet Theatre serves as the national opera and ballet house. The Slovenian Philharmonics, established in 1701 as part of Academia operosorum Labacensis, is among the oldest such institutions in Europe.
Harmony singing is a deep rooted tradition in Slovenia, and is at least three-part singing (four voices), while in some regions even up to eight-part singing (nine voices). Slovenian folk songs, thus, usually resounds soft and harmonious, and are very seldom in minor. Traditional Slovenian folk music is performed on Styrian harmonica (the oldest type of accordion), fiddle, clarinet, zithers, flute, and by brass bands of alpine type. In eastern Slovenia, fiddle and cimbalon bands are called velike goslarije. From 1952 on, the Slavko Avsenik's band began to appear in broadcasts, movies, and concerts all over the West Germany, inventing the original "Oberkrainer" country sound. The band produced nearly 1000 original compositions, an integral part of the Slovenian-style polka legacy. Many musicians followed Avsenik's steps, including Lojze Slak.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Among pop, rock, industrial, and indie musicians the most popular in Slovenia include industrial music group Laibach, as well as Siddharta, a rock band formed in 1995. Perpetuum Jazzile is the group from Slovenia that is internationally most listened online, with more than 23 million views for the official a cappella "Africa" video since its publishing on YouTube in May 2009 (through January 2023).<ref name="youtube_africa">Template:YouTube. Retrieved 1/18/2023.</ref> Other Slovenian bands include a historically progressive rock ones that were also popular in Titoist Yugoslavia, such as Buldožer and Lačni Franz, which inspired later comedy rock bands including Zmelkoow, Slon in Sadež and Mi2.<ref>15 years of Mi2 band, Delo, 26 October 2010</ref> With exception of Terrafolk that made appearances worldwide, other bands, such as Avtomobili, Zaklonišče Prepeva, Šank Rock, Big Foot Mama, Dan D, and Zablujena generacija, are mostly unknown outside the country. Slovenian metal bands include Noctiferia (death metal), Negligence (thrash metal), Naio Ssaion (gothic metal), and Within Destruction (deathcore).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Slovenian post-WWII singer-songwriters include Frane Milčinski, Tomaž Pengov whose 1973 album Odpotovanja is considered to be the first singer-songwriter album in former Yugoslavia,<ref>Pripotovanje hrepenenca — Tomaž Pengov, kantavtor Template:Webarchive, Mladina, 3 March 2007</ref> Tomaž Domicelj, Marko Brecelj, Andrej Šifrer, Eva Sršen, Neca Falk, and Jani Kovačič. After 1990, Adi Smolar, Iztok Mlakar, Vita Mavrič, Vlado Kreslin, Zoran Predin, Peter Lovšin, and Magnifico have been popular in Slovenia, as well. In the 21st century, there have been many successful artists from Slovenia. They include country musician Manu, zalagasper, Nika Zorjan, Omar Naber, Raiven, and Joker Out.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Theatre
[edit]
Theater has a rich tradition in Slovenia, starting with the 1867 first ever Slovene-language drama performance.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In addition to the main houses, which include Slovene National Theatre, Ljubljana and Maribor National Drama Theatre, a number of small producers are active in Slovenia, including physical theatre (e.g. Betontanc), street theatre (e.g. Ana Monró Theatre), theatresports championship Impro League, and improvisational theatre (e.g. IGLU Theatre). A popular form is puppetry, mainly performed in the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre.
Visual arts, architecture and design
[edit]Slovenia's visual arts, architecture, and design are shaped by a number of architects, designers, painters, sculptors, photographers, graphics artists, as well as comics, illustration and conceptual artists. Two significant prestigious institutions exhibiting works of Slovene visual artists are the National Gallery of Slovenia and the Museum of Modern Art.
Modern architecture in Slovenia was introduced by Max Fabiani, and in the mid-war period, Jože Plečnik and Ivan Vurnik.<ref name="Štravs2011">Template:Cite news</ref> In the second half of the 20th century, the national and universal style were merged by the architects Edvard Ravnikar and first generation of his students: Milan Mihelič, Stanko Kristl, Savin Sever. The next generation is mainly still active, including Marko Mušič, Vojteh Ravnikar, and Jurij Kobe. Selected works of Jože Plečnik which shaped Ljubljana during the inter-war period were inscribed on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 2021.<ref name="plecnik whc">Template:Cite web</ref>
A number of conceptual visual art groups formed, including OHO, Group 69, and IRWIN. Nowadays, the Slovene visual arts are diverse, based on tradition, reflect the influence of neighboring nations and are intertwined with modern European movements.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Internationally most notable Slovenian design items include the 1952 Rex chair, a Scandinavian design-inspired wooden chair, by interior designer Niko Kralj that was given in 2012 a permanent place in Designmuseum, Denmark, the largest museum of design in Scandinavia, and is included in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art MOMA in New York City, as well. An industrial design item that has changed the international ski industry is Elan SCX by Elan company.
The renewal of Slovene sculpture begun with Alojz Gangl who created sculptures for the public monuments of the Carniolan polymath Johann Weikhard von Valvasor and Valentin Vodnik, the first Slovene poet and journalist, as well as The Genius of the Theatre and other statues for the Slovenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre building.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The development of sculpture after World War II was led by a number of artists, including brothers Boris and Zdenko Kalin, Jakob Savinšek stayed with figural art. Younger sculptors, for example Janez Boljka, Drago Tršar and particularly Slavko Tihec, moved towards abstract forms. Jakov Brdar and Mirsad Begić returned to human figures.
During World War II, numerous graphics were created by Božidar Jakac, who helped establish the post-war Academy of Visual Arts in Ljubljana.
In 1917 Hinko Smrekar illustrated Fran Levstik's book about the well-known Slovene folk hero Martin Krpan. The children's books illustrators include a number of women illustrators, such as Marlenka Stupica, Marija Lucija Stupica, Ančka Gošnik Godec, Marjanca Jemec Božič, and Jelka Reichman.
Historically, painting and sculpture in Slovenia was in the late 18th and the 19th century marked by Neoclassicism (Matevž Langus), Biedermeier (Giuseppe Tominz) and Romanticism (Michael Stroy). The first art exhibition in Slovenia was organized in the late 19th century by Ivana Kobilca. Impressionist artists include Matej Sternen, Matija Jama, Rihard Jakopič, Ivan Grohar whose The Sower (Slovene: Sejalec) was depicted on the €0.05 Slovenian euro coins, and Franc Berneker, who introduced impressionism to Slovenia. Espressionist painters include Veno Pilon and Tone Kralj whose picture book, reprinted thirteen times, is now the most recognisable image of Martin Krpan.<ref>[2] Template:Webarchive</ref> Some of the best known painters in the second half of the 20th century were Zoran Mušič, Gabrijel Stupica and Marij Pregelj.
In 1841, Janez Puhar invented a process for photography on glass, recognized on 17 June 1852 in Paris by the Académie Nationale Agricole, Manufacturière et Commerciale.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Gojmir Anton Kos was a notable realist painter and photographer between First World War and WW II.
Sports
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Slovenia is a natural sports venue, with many Slovenians actively practicing sports.<ref name="SportSLO.SI">Template:Cite web</ref> A variety of sports are played in Slovenia on a professional level,<ref name="medjugorac4">Template:Cite book</ref> with international successes in handball, basketball, volleyball, football, ice hockey, rowing, swimming, tennis, boxing, climbing, road cycling and athletics. Prior to World War II, gymnastics and fencing used to be the most popular sports in Slovenia, with athletes like Leon Štukelj and Miroslav Cerar gaining gold Olympic medals.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Football gained popularity in the interwar period. After 1945, basketball, handball and volleyball have become popular among Slovenians, and from the mid-1970s, winter sports as well. Since 1992, Slovenian sportspeople have won 55 Olympic medals, including 14 gold medals, and 26 Paralympic medals with five golds.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Individual sports are also very popular in Slovenia, including tennis and mountaineering, which are two of the most widespread sporting activities in Slovenia. Several Slovenian extreme and endurance sportsmen have gained an international reputation, including the mountaineer Tomaž Humar,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the mountain skier Davo Karničar,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the ultramarathon swimmer Martin Strel<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the ultracyclist Jure Robič.<ref>Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> Past and current winter sports athletes include alpine skiers, such as Mateja Svet, Bojan Križaj, Ilka Štuhec and double Olympic gold medalist Tina Maze,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> cross-country skier Petra Majdič,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and ski jumpers, such as Primož Peterka and Peter Prevc.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Boxing has gained popularity since Jan Zaveck won the IBF Welterweight World Champion title in 2009.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2021, rock climber Janja Garnbret became the first female Olympic gold medalist in sport climbing.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In cycling, Primož Roglič became the first Slovenian to win a Grand Tour when he won the 2019 Vuelta a España.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Tadej Pogačar won the Tour de France, the world's most competitive cycling race, in 2020, 2021 and 2024.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Prominent team sports in Slovenia include football, basketball, handball, volleyball, and ice hockey. The men's national football team has qualified for two European Championships (2000 and 2024) and two World Cups (2002 and 2010).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Of Slovenian clubs, NK Maribor played three times in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The men's national basketball team has participated at 14 EuroBaskets, winning the gold medal in the 2017 edition,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and at four FIBA World Championships.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Slovenia also hosted the EuroBasket 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The men's national handball team has qualified for four Olympics,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> eleven IHF World Championships, including their third-place finish in 2017,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and fourteen European Championships.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Slovenia was the hosts of the 2004 European Championship, where the national team won the silver medal.<ref name="2004handball">Template:Cite web</ref> Slovenia's most prominent handball team, RK Celje, won the EHF Champions League in the 2003–04 season.<ref name="2004handball"/> In women's handball, RK Krim won the Champions League in 2001 and 2003.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The men's national volleyball team has won three silver medals at the European Volleyball Championship,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and finished fourth at the 2022 World Championship.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The national ice hockey team has participated in 31 Ice Hockey World Championships, with 11 appearances in the highest division.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]References
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- Perko, Drago, Ciglic, Rok, Zorn, Matija (eds.), The Geography of Slovenia: Small But Diverse (Cham, Springer, 2020).
- Stanić, Stane, Slovenia (London, Flint River Press, 1994).
- Oto Luthar (ed.), The Land Between: A History of Slovenia. With contributions by Oto Luthar, Igor Grdina, Marjeta Šašel Kos, Petra Svoljšak, Peter Kos, Dušan Kos, Peter Štih, Alja Brglez and Martin Pogačar (Frankfurt am Main etc., Peter Lang, 2008).
External links
[edit]- Slovenia from UCB Libraries GovPubs
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- "Facts About Slovenia", publication from the Slovenian Government Communication Office. pdf. In English, Spanish, French, German and Russian.
- Slovenia – Landmarks. Virtual reality panoramas of various spots in the country.
- "Slovenia: a geographical overview". Association of the Geographical Societies of Slovenia.
Government
- Slovenia.si The main national access point to information about Slovenia.
- The Republic of Slovenia. Official institutions.
- Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia Template:Webarchive
- National Meteorological Service of Slovenia
Travel
- The Slovenian Tourist portal. Slovenian Tourist Board.
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Template:Slovenia topics Template:Navboxes Template:Authority control
- Pages with broken file links
- Slovenia
- Balkan countries
- Countries in Europe
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- Member states of the European Union
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- Member states of the United Nations
- Member states of the Three Seas Initiative
- OECD members
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- States and territories established in 1991
- 1991 establishments in Europe