Slovakia

Slovakia (Slovak: Slovensko) is a landlocked republic in Central Europe. It borders the Czech Republic in the northwest, Poland in the north, Ukraine in the east, Hungary in the south, and Austria in the southwest.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Slovakia

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The majority of the inhabitants of Slovakia are ethnically Slovak (86 percent). Hungarians are the largest ethnic minority (10 percent) and are concentrated in the southern and eastern regions of the country. Other ethnic groups include Roma, Czechs, Ruthenians, Ukrainians, Germans, and Poles. The percentage of Roma is 1.7% according to the last census (that is based on the own definition of the Roma), but around 5.6% based on interviews with municipality representatives and mayors (that is based on the definition of the remaining population). Note however that in the case of the 5.6%, the above percentages of Hungarians and Slovaks are lower by 4 percentage points in sum.

Related Topics:
Slovak - Hungarians - Roma - Czech - Ruthenians - Ukrainians - German - Poles

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The Slovak constitution guarantees freedom of religion. The majority of Slovak citizens (68.9 percent) practice Roman Catholicism; the second-largest group are people without confession(12.96 percent). About 6.93 percent belong to Lutheranism and 4.1 percent are Greek Catholic,Calvinism has 2.0 percent, other and non-registered churches 1.1 percent i.e., Eastern Catholic and some 0.9 percent are Eastern Orthodox. About 2,300 Jews remain of the estimated pre-WWII population of 120,000. The official state language is Slovak, a member of the Slavic languages, but Hungarian is also widely spoken in the south and enjoys a co-official status in some regions.

Related Topics:
Freedom of religion - Roman Catholicism - Lutheranism - Greek Catholic - Calvinism - Eastern Orthodox - Jew - Slovak - Slavic languages - Hungarian

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