Editing Demographics of Slovakia (section)

==Ethnic groups==
[[Image:Slovakia 1910 Language.png|thumb|400px|right|Linguistic composition within the territory of modern Slovakia in 1910]]
[[File:Slovakia 2011 Ethnic.png|400px|thumb|Ethnic structure of Slovakia according to Census 2011]]
[[File:Slovakia 2021 Ethnic.png|left|400px|thumb|Ethnic structure of Slovakia in 2021]]
The majority of the 5.4 million inhabitants of [[Slovakia]] are [[Slovaks|Slovak]] (83.82%). [[Hungarians]] are the largest ethnic minority (7.75%) and are concentrated in the southern and eastern regions of Slovakia. Other ethnic groups include [[Roma people of Slovakia|Roma]] (1.23%), [[Czechs]], [[Croats in Slovakia|Croats]], [[Rusyns]], [[Ukrainians]], [[Carpathian Germans|Germans]], [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Gorals]], [[Serbs]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.contemporaryrelations.eu/1239/serbs-in-slovakia-granted-minority-status/ |title=Serbs in Slovakia granted minority status |access-date=2010-09-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100918104925/http://www.contemporaryrelations.eu/1239/serbs-in-slovakia-granted-minority-status/ |archive-date=2010-09-18 }}</ref> and [[Jews]] (about 2,300 remain of the estimated pre-[[World War II|WWII]] population of 120,000).

While both international organizations (the United Nations and the World Bank) and the official Slovak statistics office offer population figures for ethnic groups, these figures seldom come close to agreement. Figures for the Roma population (for a variety of reasons) vary between 1% and 10% of the population. In the most recent survey carried out by the Slovak Government's Roma Plenipotentiary, the figure for the percentage of Roma was arrived at through interview with municipality representatives and mayors, according to how many Roma they think live in their jurisdictions. The figure arrived at by this means was in the region of 300,000 (about 5.6%). Note that in the case of the 5.6%, however, the above percentages of Hungarians and Slovaks are lower accordingly.{{citation needed|date=September 2016}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+Population of Slovakia according to ethnic group at censuses 1950–2021<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sodb.infostat.sk/sodb/eng/1848-2001/tab.III.2-2B_en.htm|title=Demographic data from population and housing censuses in Slovakia|website=Sodb.infostat.sk|access-date=29 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://portal.statistics.sk/files/Sekcie/sek_600/Demografia/SODB/Tabulky/Tabulky_AJ_SODB/tab11.pdf|title=Development of prices in production area in July 2017|website=Portal.statistics.sk|access-date=29 August 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070715152521/http://portal.statistics.sk/files/Sekcie/sek_600/Demografia/SODB/Tabulky/Tabulky_AJ_SODB/tab11.pdf|archive-date=15 July 2007}}</ref>
|-
! rowspan="2" | Ethnic<br />group
! colspan="2" | 1950
! colspan="2" | 1961
! colspan="2" | 1970
! colspan="2" | 1980
! colspan="2" | 1991
! colspan="2" | 2001
! colspan="2" | 2011
! colspan="2" | 2021<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ethnic composition of Slovakia 2021 |url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/slovakia-ethnic-loc2021.htm |access-date=5 July 2022}}</ref>
|-
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
! Number
! %
|-
| [[Slovaks]]
| align="right" | 
| align="right" | 86.6
| align="right" | 
| align="right" | 85.3
| align="right" | 
| align="right" | 85.5
| align="right" | 4,317,008
| align="right" | 86.5
| align="right" | 4,519,328
| align="right" | 85.7
| align="right" | 4,614,854
| align="right" | 85.8
| align="right" | 4,352,775
| align="right" | 80.7
| align="right" | 4,567,547
| align="right" |{{Pct |4567547|5449270| 1 }}
|-
| [[Hungarians]]
| align="right" | 
| align="right" | 10.3
| align="right" | 
| align="right" | 12.4
| align="right" | 
| align="right" | 12.2
| align="right" | 559,490 || align="right" | 11.2 || align="right" | 567,296 || align="right" | 10.8 || align="right" | 520,528 || align="right" | 9.7
| align="right" | 458,467
| align="right" | 8.5
| align="right" | 422,065
| align="right" |{{Pct |422065|5449270| 1 }}
|-
| [[Romani people|Romani]]<sup>1</sup>
| align="right" | 
| align="right" | -
| align="right" | 
| align="right" | -
| align="right" | 
| align="right" | -
| align="right" | - || align="right" | - || align="right" | 75,802 || align="right" | 1.4 || align="right" | 89,920 || align="right" | 1.7
| align="right" | 105,738
| align="right" | 2.0
| align="right" | 67,179
| align="right" | {{Pct |67179|5449270| 1 }}
|-
| [[Czechs]]
| align="right" | 
| align="right" | 1.2
| align="right" | 
| align="right" | 1.1
| align="right" | 
| align="right" | 1.0
| align="right" | 57,197 || align="right" | 1.1 || align="right" | 59,326 || align="right" | 1.1 || align="right" | 44,620 || align="right" | 0.8
| align="right" | 30,367
| align="right" | 0.6
| align="right" | 28,996
| align="right" |{{Pct |28996|5449270| 1 }}
|-
| [[Rusyns]]
| align="right" rowspan="2" | 
| align="right" rowspan="2" | 1.4
| align="right" rowspan="2" | 
| align="right" rowspan="2" | -
| align="right" rowspan="2"| 
| align="right" rowspan="2"| 0.9
| align="right" rowspan="2"| 36,850
| align="right" rowspan="2"| 0.7
| align="right" | 17,197 || align="right" | 0.3 || align="right" | 24,201 || align="right" | 0.4
| align="right" | 33,482
| align="right" | 0.6
| align="right" | 23,746
| align="right" |{{Pct |23746|5449270| 1 }}
|-
| [[Ukrainians]]
| align="right" | 13,281 || align="right" | 0.3 || align="right" | 10,814 || align="right" | 0.2
| align="right" | 7,430
| align="right" | 0.1
| align="right" | 9,451
| align="right" |{{Pct |9451|5449270| 1 }}
|-
| Others/undeclared
| align="right" | 
| align="right" | 0.5
| align="right" | 
| align="right" | 1.2
| align="right" | 
| align="right" | 0.4
| align="right" | 20,623
| align="right" | 0.4
| align="right" | 22,105 || align="right" | 0.4 || align="right" | 74,518 || align="right" | 1.4
| align="right" | 408,777
| align="right" | 7.5
| align="right" | 330,286
| align="right" |{{Pct |330286|5449270| 1 }}
|-
|-bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! align="left" | Total
! colspan="2" | 3,442,317
! colspan="2" | 4,174,046
! colspan="2" | 4,537,290
! colspan="2" | 4,991,168
! colspan="2" | 5,274,335
! colspan="2" | 5,379,455
! colspan="2" | 5,397,036
! colspan="2" | 5,450,421
|-
| colspan="17" | <sup>1</sup> <small>Before 1991 the Romani were not recognized as a separate ethnic group</small>
|}

The official state language is Slovak, and Hungarian is widely spoken in the southern regions.

Despite its modern [[Europe]]an economy and society, Slovakia has a significant rural element. About 45% of Slovaks live in villages with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants, and 14% in villages with fewer than 1,000.