Slovenia ( /slɵˈviːniə/ sloh-vee-nee-ə or /sloʊˈvɛniə/; Slovene: Slovenija, [slɔˈvèːnija]), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Republika Slovenija, [rɛˈpùːblika slɔˈvèːnija] , Slovene abbreviation: RS [rəˈsə̀]), is a nation state on the Adriatic Sea, bordering Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Croatia to the south and southeast, and Hungary to the northeast. It covers 20,273 square kilometers (7,827 sq mi) and has a population of 2.05 million. It is a parliamentary republic and a member of the European Union and NATO. Its capital and largest city is Ljubljana. The territory, located in southern Central Europe at the crossroads of main European cultural and trade routes, is mainly mountainous with mainly continental climate, with the exception of the Slovene Littoral that has the sub-Mediterranean climate and the north-western area that has the Alpine climate. Additionally, Dinaric Alps and the Pannonian Plain meet on the territory of Slovenia. The country, marked by a significant biological diversity, is one of the most water-rich in Europe, with a dense river network, a rich aquifer system, and significant karstic underground watercourses. Over half of the territory is covered by forest. The human settlement of Slovenia is dispersed and uneven. The Slavic, Germanic, Romance, and Hungarian languages meet here. Although the population is not homogenous, the majority is Slovene. Slovene is the only official language throughout the country, whereas Italian and Hungarian are regional minority languages. Slovenia is a largely secularized country, but its culture and identity have been significantly influenced by Catholicism as well as Lutheranism. The economy of Slovenia is small, open, and export-oriented and has been strongly influenced by international conditions. It has been severely hurt by the Eurozone crisis, started in late 2000s. The main economic field is services, followed by industry and construction. Historically, the current territory of Slovenia was part of many different state formations, including the Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, followed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In October 1918, the Slovenes exercised self-determination for the first time by co-founding the internationally unrecognized State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs, which merged that December with the Kingdom of Serbia into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929). During World War II, Slovenia was occupied and annexed by Germany, Italy, Croatia, and Hungary. Afterward, it was a founding member of the Federal Peoples Republic of Yugoslavia, later renamed the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In June 1991, after the introduction of multi-party representative democracy, Slovenia split from Yugoslavia and became an independent country. In 2004, it entered NATO and the European Union; in 2007 became the first former Communist country to join the Eurozone; and in 2010 joined the OECD, a global association of high-income developed countries. Present-day Slovenia was long inhabited in prehistoric times, and there is evidence of human habitation from around 250,000 years ago. A pierced cave bear bone, dating from 43100 ± 700 BP, found in 1995 in Divje Babe cave near Cerkno, is possibly the oldest musical instrument discovered in the world. In 1920s and 1930s, artifacts belonging to the Cro-Magnon such as pierced bones, bone points, and needle have been found by archaeologist Srečko Brodar in Potok Cave. In 2002, remains of pile dwellings over 4,500 years old were discovered in the Ljubljana Marshes, now protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with the Ljubljana Marshes Wooden Wheel, the oldest wooden wheel in the world. It shows that wooden wheels appeared almost simultaneously in Mesopotamia and Europe. 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. In the Iron Age, present-day Slovenia was inhabited by Illyrian and Celtic tribes until the 1st century BC. When the Ancient Romans conquered the area, they established the provinces of Pannonia, and Noricum and present-day western Slovenia was included directly under Roman Italia as part of the X region Venetia et Histria. 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. A part of the inner state was protected with a defensive line of towers and walls called Claustra Alpium Iuliarum. The Slavic tribes migrated to the Alpine area after the westward departure of the Lombards (the last Germanic tribe) in 568, and with aid from Avars established a Slavic settlement in the Eastern Alps. From 623 to 624 or possibly 626 onwards, King Samo united the Alpine, Western, and Northern Slavs against the nomadic Eurasian Avars and established what is referred to as Samos Kingdom. After its disintegration following Samos death in 658 or 659, the ancestors of Slovenes located in present-day Carinthia formed the independent duchy of Carantania.[54] Other parts of present-day Slovenia were again ruled by Avars before Charlemagnes victory over them in 803. 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 Ljudevit Posavski 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. The Magyar invasion of the Pannonian Plain in the late 9th century effectively isolated the Slovene-inhabited territory from the western Slavs. Thus, the Slavs of Carantania and of Carniola began developing into an independent Slovene ethnic group. 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, being the most important, was elevated into the Duchy of Carinthia in 976. In the late Middle Ages, the historic provinces of Carniola, Styria, Carinthia, Gorizia, Trieste, and Istria developed from the border regions and were incorporated into the medieval German state. 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 Spannheim, the Counts of Gorizia, the Counts of Celje, and, finally, the House of Habsburg. In a parallel process, an intensive German colonisation significantly diminished the extent of Slovene-speaking areas. By the 15th century, the Slovene ethnic territory was reduced to its present size. In the 14th century, most of the territory of Slovenia was taken over by the Habsburgs. The counts of Celje, a feudal family from this area who in 1436 acquired the title of state princes, were their 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. 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. The Slovene Lands were part of the Illyrian provinces, the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary (in Cisleithania). They encompassed Carniola, southern part of Carinthia, southern part of Styria, Istria, Gorizia and Gradisca, Trieste, and Prekmurje. Industrialization was accompanied by construction of railroads to link cities and markets, but the urbanization was limited. Due to limited opportunities, between 1880-1910 there was extensive emigration, and around 300,000 Slovenes (i.e. 1 in 6) emigrated to other countries, mostly to the US, but also to South America, Germany, Egypt, and to larger cities in Austria-Hungary, especially Zagreb and Vienna. Despite this, the Slovene population increased significantly. Literacy was exceptionally high, at 80-90%. World War I brought heavy casualties for the Slovenes, particularly the twelve Battles of the Isonzo, which took place in present-day Slovenias western border area. 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 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. Entire areas of the Slovene Littoral were destroyed. The Slovene Peoples 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. 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 center of industrial production: Compared to Serbia, for example, Slovenian industrial production was four times greater; and it was 22 times greater than in 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, on the other hand, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was awarded the Slovene-inhabited Prekmurje region, formerly part of Austro-Hungary. Slovenes living in territories that fell under the rule of the neighboring states: Italy, Austria and Hungary, were subjected to assimilation. The annexed western quarter of Slovene speaking territory and approximately 327,000 out of the total population of 1.3[60] million Slovenes were cut off from the remaining three-quarters of Slovenes, and subjected to forced Fascist Italianization after the rise to power of Fascists, who sought to eradicate especially the Slovene middle class and the intelligentsia after the territories were annexed by Kingdom of Italy with the secret Treaty of London and later Treaty of Rapallo (1920), especially after Benito Mussolini came to power in 1922. Italy abolished education in the Slovene language in 1923, and required the Italianization of Slovene surnames and personal names between 1926 and 1932. By 1927, the government banned all Slovene associations, and prohibited all public use of the Slovene language. By the mid-1930s, several thousand Slovenes, especially intellectuals from Trieste region, emigrated to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (in 1929 renamed Yugoslavia) and to South America. Both Italian Black Shirts and police personnel attacked opponents of the Fascist regime. After all Slovene minority organizations in Italy had been suppressed, the militant anti-fascist organization TIGR was formed in 1927 in order to fight the Fascist regime. After 1930, TIGR opted for targeted attacks on infrastructure and high-ranking military, militia and police personnel and established an agreement of co-operation with the Communist Party of Italy, and a wide intelligence network that included contacts with Yugoslav and British intelligence services. Slovenia was the only present-day European nation that was trisected and completely annexed into neighboring Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Hungary during WW II. The Nazis had a plan of ethnic cleansing of northern Slovenia, with the exception of north-eastern part that was annexed by Hungary, and they resettled or chased away the Slovene civilian population to the puppet states of Nedićs Serbia (7,500) and NDH (10,000) and to Germany. Because Hitler opposed having the ethnic German Gottscheers in the Italian annexation zone, they were moved out of it.[66] Out of total 46,000 Slovenes who were expelled to Germany, including children who were separated from their families and sent to German families to be raised as Germans, about 32,000[68] Slovenes from the area were transported to Saxony in order to make space for the relocated 10,500 Gottscheers, while 30,000 to 40,000 Slovenians were drafted to German army and sent to Eastern front. In schools, the expelled Slovene teachers were replaced by Austrian teachers who taught only in German. In central Slovenia, annexed by Fascist Italy and renamed the Province of Ljubljana, on 26 April 1941 the National Liberation Front was organized to carry out a liberation struggle, forming the Slovene Partisans as part of the Europes most effective anti-Nazi resistance and creating structures of a future post-war state of Slovenes that would include majority of Slovenes within a socialist Yugoslav federation led by Yugoslav revolutionary communists. After the resistance started, Italian violence against the Slovene civilian population escalated and easily matched that of the Germans. The Province of Ljubljana alone saw the deportation of 25,000 people, which equaled 7.5% of the total population, to Italian concentration camps, such as Rab, Gonars, Monigo, Renicci di Anghiari and elsewhere. Yugoslavia, Greece and Ethiopia requested the extradition of Italian war criminals at the end of World War II. However, of the 1,200 Italians wanted for war crimes, none were brought to trial: Italy tactically exchanged the impunity of the Italians accused by Yugoslavia for the renunciation to investigate the foibe killings and avoid investigations and responsibility on their part. So both Italian, Allied and Yugoslav war and post-war mass killings were forgotten in order to maintain a good neighbour policy and good relations. The British, American and Spanish governments, fearful of the post-war Italian Communist Party, effectively undermined the Slovenian quest for justice by tolerating Italys efforts to avoid any of the alleged Italian war criminals being extradited and taken to court. Some Slovenes collaborated with the Axis powers, with the German-sponsored Slovene Home Guard having 21,000 members at the peak of its power. More than 30,000 Partisans died fighting Axis forces and their collaborators. Approximately 8% of Slovenes died during WWII in the Slovene territories. In 1945, Yugoslavia liberated itself and shortly thereafter became a nominally federal Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Slovenia joined the federation as a socialist republic; its own Communist Party was formed in 1937. After the withdrawal of the Axis forces, the vast majority of the relocated Gottscheers were deported or fled to Austria and Germany. An indeterminate number of Italians and anti-Communist Yugoslavs were killed in the foibe massacres. Following the re-establishment of Yugoslavia during World War II, Slovenia became part of Federal Yugoslavia. A socialist state was established, but because of the Tito–Stalin split in 1948, economic and personal freedoms were broader than in the rest of the Eastern Bloc. In 1947, the Slovene Littoral and half of Inner Carniola, which had been annexed by Italy after the First World War, were regained by Slovenia. Both had exclusively ethnic Slovene populations with the exception of the towns Koper, Izola, and Piran, Italian-populated urban enclaves that saw mass ethnic Italian emigration (part of the Istrian Exodus) due to the ongoing foibe killings and other revenge against them for war crimes committed by Italians in the Province of Ljubljana and due to their fear of Communism, which by 1947 had nationalised all private property. After the failure of forced collectivisation that was attempted from 1949–53, a policy of gradual economic liberalisation, known as workers self-management, was introduced under the advice and supervision of the Slovene Edvard Kardelj, the main theorist of the Titoist path to socialism. After the 1950s, Slovenia enjoyed relatively broad autonomy within the federation. In 1956, Josip Broz Tito, together with other leaders, founded the Non-Aligned Movement. Particularly in the 1950s, Slovenias economy developed rapidly and was strongly industrialised. With further economic decentralisation of Yugoslavia in 1965-66, Slovenias domestic product was 2.5 times the average of Yugoslav republics, which strengthened national confidence among the Slovenes. After the death of Tito in 1980, the economic and political situation in Yugoslavia became very strained. 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. 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 Defense 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. The same year Action North united both the opposition and democratized communist establishment in Slovenia as the first defense action against attacks by Slobodan Miloševićs supporters, leading to Slovenian independence. On 7 March 1990, the Slovenian Assembly changed the official name of the state to the Republic of Slovenia. In April 1990, the first democratic election in Slovenia took place, and the united opposition movement DEMOS led by Jože Pučnik emerged victorious. These revolutionary events in Slovenia pre-dated by almost one year the Revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe, but went largely unnoticed by international observers. On 23 December 1990, more than 88% of the electorate voted for a sovereign and independent Slovenia. On 25 June 1991, Slovenia became independent through the passage of appropriate legal documents. On 27 June in the early morning, the Yugoslav Peoples Army dispatched its forces to prevent further measures for the establishment of a new country, which led to the Ten-Day War. On 7 July, the Brijuni Agreement was signed, implementing a truce and a three-month halt of the enforcement of Slovenias independence. In the end of the month, the last soldiers of the Yugoslav Army left Slovenia. In December 1991, a new constitution was adopted, followed in 1992 by the laws on denationalisation and privatization. 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. Slovenia joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. 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. Slovenia subsequently succeeded in meeting the Maastricht criteria and joined the Eurozone (the first transition country to do so) on 1 January 2007. 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. Slovenian disillusionment with socio-economic elites 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. 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. 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. These two macroregions are: East Slovenia (Vzhodna Slovenija – SI01), which groups the Mura, Drava, Carinthia, Savinja, Central Sava, Lower Sava, Southeast Slovenia, and Inner Carniola–Karst statistical regions. West Slovenia (Zahodna Slovenija – SI02), which groups the Central Slovenia, Upper Carniola, Gorizia, and Coastal–Karst statistical regions. Slovenia is situated in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. 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. The Geometrical Center of the Republic of Slovenia is located at coordinates 46°0711.8 N and 14°4855.2 E. It lies in Slivna in the Municipality of Litija. Slovenias highest peak is Triglav (2,864 m or 9,396 ft); the countrys average height above sea level is 557 m (1,827 ft). Four major European geographic regions meet in Slovenia: the Alps, the Dinarides, the Pannonian Plain, and the Mediterranean. 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 Karavanke chain, as well as the Pohorje massif—dominate Northern Slovenia along its long border with Austria. Slovenias Adriatic coastline stretches approximately 47 km (29 mi) from Italy to Croatia. The term Karst topography refers to that of southwestern Slovenias Kras Plateau, a limestone region of underground rivers, gorges, and caves, between Ljubljana and the Mediterranean. On the Pannonian plain to the East and Northeast, toward the Croatian and Hungarian borders, the landscape is essentially flat. However, the majority of Slovenian terrain is hilly or mountainous, with around 90% of the surface 200 m (656 ft) or more above sea level. Over half of the country (10,124 km2 or 3,909 sq mi) is covered by forests. This makes Slovenia the third most forested country in Europe, after Finland and Sweden. The areas are covered mostly by beech, fir-beech and beech-oak forests and have a relatively high production capacity. Remnants of primeval forests are still to be found, the largest in the Kočevje area. Grassland covers 5,593 km2 (2,159 sq mi) and fields and gardens (954 km2 or 368 sq mi). There are 363 km2 (140 sq mi) of orchards and 216 km2 (83 sq mi) of vineyards. 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: 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). 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 comprise 36% of the countrys land area, the largest percentage among European Union states. Additionally, according to Yale Universitys Environmental Performance Index, Slovenia is considered a strong performer in environmental protection efforts. Slovenia has a developed economy and is per capita the richest of the Slavic states. The country 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. In 2004-2006, 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. After the financial crisis of 2007-2010 and European sovereign-debt crisis, the price for a boom that veered out of control is now being paid. The construction industry was severely hit in 2010 and 2011. Already in 2009 the Slovenian GDP per capita shrunk by 8%, which was the biggest fall in the European Union after the Baltic countries and Finland. In August 2012 the year-on-year contraction is still 0.8%, however, growth by 0.2% was recorded in the first quarter (in relation to the quarter before, after data was adjusted according to season and working days). 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 last year, to the failure of the efforts to implement economic reforms, to inappropriate financing, and to the decrease in exports. Slovenias total national debt at the end of September 2011 amounted to 15,884 million euros or 44.4% of GDP. In August 2012, the three main ratings agencies have all downgraded Slovenian sovereign debt. An increase in 2013 estimates about Slovenia allegedly being in need of a bailout was attributed by Finland’s Europe Minister Alexander Stubb to financial sharks who would like to capitalize on it by creating self-fulfilling prophecies and Die Welt ranked Slovenia among the three least vulnerable European countries topped only by Germany and Estonia. Almost two-thirds of people are employed in services, and over one-third in industry and construction. Slovenia benefits from a well-educated workforce, well-developed infrastructure, and its location at the crossroads of major trade routes. The level of foreign direct investment (FDI) per capita in Slovenia is one of the lowest in the EU,[43] and the labor productivity and the competitiveness of the Slovenian economy is still significantly below the EU average. 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. High level of openness makes Slovenia extremely sensitive to economic conditions in its main trading partners and changes in its international price competitiveness. The main industries are motor vehicles, electric and electronic equipment, machinery, pharmaceuticals, and fuels. An increasing burden for the Slovenian economy has been its rapidly ageing population. There is a big difference in prosperity between the regions. The economically most prosperous statistical regions are the Central Slovenia and the Slovene Littoral, while the poorest are the Mura, the Central Sava and the Carinthia. In 2011 electricity production was 14,144 GWh, electricity consumption was 12,602 GWh. Electricity production by source: hydro 3,361 GWh, thermal 4,883 GWh, nuclear 5,899 GWh. Current investments: new 600 MW block of Šoštanj thermal power plant is in construction and will be finished by 2014. New 39.5 MW HE Krško hydro power plant was finished in 2013. By 2018, 41.5 MW HE Brežice and 30.5 MW HE Mokrice hydro power plants will be built on Sava river. Construction of ten hydropower plants on the Sava River 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. Renewable energy in Slovenia: at the end of 2011 at least 87 MWp of photovoltaic modules were installed and 22 MW of biogas powerplants. There is a plan and obligation that at least 500 MW of wind power will be installed by 2020. Solar hot water heating is gaining popularity in Slovenia. 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. The nations capital, Ljubljana, has many important Baroque and Vienna Secession buildings, with several important works of the native born architect Jože Plečnik. At the northwestern corner of the country lie the Julian Alps with the picturesque Lake Bled and the Soča Valley, as well as the nations highest peak, Mount Triglav in the middle of Triglav National Park. Other mountain ranges include Kamnik–Savinja Alps, Karavanke and Pohorje, popular with skiers and hikers. 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, with more than 28 million visitors, 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. The hills around Slovenias second-largest town, Maribor, are renowned for their wine-making. The northeastern part of the country is rich with spas, with Rogaška Slatina, Radenci, Čatež ob Savi, Dobrna, and Moravske Toplice growing in importance in the last two decades. Other popular tourist destinations include the historic cities of Ptuj and Škofja Loka, and several castles, such as the Predjama Castle. 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. Perla in Nova Gorica is the largest casino in the region. Most of foreign tourists to Slovenia come from the key European markets: Italy, Austria, Germany, Croatia, Benelux, Serbia, Russia and Ukraine, followed by UK and Ireland. European tourists create more than 90% of Slovenias tourist income. With 101 inhabitants per square kilometer (262/sq mi), Slovenia ranks low among the European countries in population density (compared to 402/km² (1042/sq mi) for the Netherlands or 195/km² (505/sq mi) for Italy). The Inner Carniola–Karst Statistical Region has the lowest population density while the Central Slovenia Statistical Region has the highest. According to the 2002 census, Slovenias main ethnic group are the 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. They have settled mainly in cities and suburbanised areas. Relatively small but protected by the Constitution of Slovenia are the Hungarian and the Italian ethnic minority. A special position is held by the autochthonous and geographically dispersed Roma ethnic community. Slovenia is among the European countries with the most pronounced ageing of population, ascribable to a low birth rate and increasing life expectancy. Almost all Slovenian inhabitants older than 64 are retired, with no significant difference between the genders. The working-age group is diminishing in spite of immigration. The proposal to raise the retirement age from the current 57 for women and 58 for men was rejected in a referendum in 2011. In addition, the difference among the genders regarding life expectancy is still significant. The total fertility rate (TFR) in 2014 was estimated at 1.33 children born/woman, which is lower than the replacement rate of 2.1. The majority of children are born to unmarried women (in 2013, 58% of all births were outside marriage). In 2014, life expectancy was 77.83 years (74.21 years male, and 81.69 years female). In 2009, the suicide rate in Slovenia was 22 per 100,000 persons per year, which places Slovenia among the highest ranked European countries in this regard. Nonetheless, from 2000 until 2010, the rate has decreased by about 30%. The differences between regions and the genders are pronounced. Before World War II, 97% of the population declared itself Catholic (Roman Rite), around 2.5% as Lutheran, and around 0.5% of residents identified themselves as members of other denominations. Catholicism was an important feature of both social and political life in pre-Communist Slovenia. After 1945, the country underwent a process of gradual but steady secularization. After a decade of severe persecution of religions, the Communist regime adopted a policy of relative tolerance towards the churches, but limited their social functioning. After 1990, the Catholic Church regained some of its former influence, but Slovenia remains a largely secularized society. According to the 2002 census, 57.8% of the population is Catholic. As elsewhere in Europe, affiliation with Catholicism is dropping: In 1991, 71.6% were self-declared Catholics which means a drop of more than 1% annually. The vast majority of Slovenian Catholics belong to the Latin Rite. A small number of Greek Catholics live in the White Carniola region. 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 in the 16th century. 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. Besides these two Christian denominations, a small Jewish community has also been historically present. Despite the losses suffered during the Holocaust, Judaism still numbers a few hundred adherents, mostly living in Ljubljana, site of the sole remaining active synagogue in the country. According to the 2002 census, Islam is the second largest religious denomination with around 2.4% of the population. Most Slovenian Muslims came from Bosnia. The third largest denomination, with around 2.2% of the population, is Orthodox Christianity, with most adherents belonging to the Serbian Orthodox Church while a minority belongs to the Macedonian and other Orthodox churches. In the 2002, around 10% of Slovenes declared themselves as atheists, another 10% professed no specific denomination, and around 16% decided not to answer the question about their religious affiliation. According to the Eurobarometer Poll 2010, 32% of Slovenian citizens responded that they believe there is a god, whereas 36% answered that they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force and 26% that they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force. 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 Slovenias population according to the census, with more than 92% of the Slovenian population speaking it in their home environment. This places Slovenia among the most homogeneous countries in the EU in terms of the share of speakers of predominant mother tongue. Slovene is sometimes characterized as the most diverse Slavic language in terms of dialects, with different degrees of mutual intelligibility. Accounts of the number of dialects range from as few as seven dialects, often considered dialect groups or dialect bases that are further subdivided into as many as 50 dialects. Other sources characterize the number of dialects as nine or eight. Hungarian and Italian 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 are officially bilingual). Romani Romani, spoken in 2002 as the native language by 0.2% of people, is a legally protected language in Slovenia. These people mainly belong to the geographically dispersed and marginalized Roma community. German 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. Gottscheerish or Granish, the traditional German dialect of Gottschee County, is now facing extinction. Other Slavic languages and Albanian 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 immigrants who moved to Slovenia from other former Yugoslav republics from the 1960s to the late 1980s, and their descendants. In 2002, 0.4% of the Slovenian population declared themselves to be native speakers of Albanian and 0.2% native speakers of Macedonian. Czech, which used to be 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. Foreign languages Regarding the knowledge of foreign languages, Slovenia is ranked among the top European countries. The most taught foreign languages are English, German, Italian, French and Spanish. As of 2007, 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.[223] According to the Eurobarometer survey, as of 2005 the majority of Slovenes could speak Croatian (61%) and English (56%). A reported 42% of Slovenes could speak German, which was one of the highest percentages outside German-speaking countries. 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. Slovenia is a natural sports venue, with many Slovenians actively practicing sports. A variety of sports are played in Slovenia on a professional level, with top international successes in handball, basketball, volleyball, association football, ice hockey, rowing, Swimming, tennis, boxing and athletics. Prior to World War II, gymnastics and fencing used to be the most popular sports in Slovenia, with champions like Leon Štukelj and Miroslav Cerar gaining Olympic medals for Slovenia. Association football gained popularity in the interwar period. After 1945, basketball, handball and volleyball have become popular among Slovenians, and from the mid-1970s onward, winter sports have, as well. Since 1992, Slovenian sportspeople have won 22 Olympic medals, including three gold medals, and 19 Paralympic medals, also with three golds. 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, the mountain skier Davo Karničar, the ultramaraton swimmer Martin Strel and the ultracyclist Jure Robič. Past and current winter sports Slovenian champions include Alpine skiers, such as Mateja Svet, Bojan Križaj, and 2014 Olympic Alpine Downhill gold medalist Tina Maze, the cross-country skier Petra Majdič, and ski jumpers, such as Primož Peterka. Boxing has gained popularity since Dejan Zavec won the IBF Welterweight World Champion title in 2009. Since the major international success of the national football team, qualifying for two FIFA World Cups and one UEFA European Football Championship, association football has become increasingly popular, as well. Slovenian past and current football stars include Branko Oblak and Zlatko Zahovič. The national basketball team has qualified for 11 Eurobaskets, including a 4th place finish in 2009, and three FIBA World Championship appearances. Notable Slovenian basketball players include Goran Dragić, Jure Zdovc, Peter Vilfan, Ivo Daneu and Boris Kristančič. Slovenia was the host of European basketball championship in 2013, having previously hosted the final round of 1970 FIBA World Championship. The national ice hockey team has qualified for seven Ice Hockey World Championships. Anže Kopitar is the most notable Slovene ice hockey player, and is one of the best players in the world, having helped the Los Angeles Kings to the Stanley Cup Championship in 2012 and 2014. The national team qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, the first time it has qualified for the Olympics in its history.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 18:14:34 +0000
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