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The Republic of Slovenia
Location
Slovenia is a small European country that stretches over an area of 20,273 km2
between the Alps, the Adriatic Sea and the Pannonia Plain. Slovenia shares land
borders with Austria at 318 km, Italy at 280 km, and Hungary at 102 km and
Croatia at 670 km, total border length of 1,370 km. The coastline extends over
46.6 km. The capital of Slovenia is Ljubljana.
Population
According to the last census (of 2002), Slovenia had 1,964,036 inhabitants; by 1
January 2013 the number had increased to 2,058,821. Population density is 101.6
people per square kilometre. The ethnic population breakdown is as follows: the
majority, 83.1 %, is Slovenian; members of the Hungarian (0.3 %) and Italian
(0.1 %) national communities are recognised national minorities. In the census of
2002, every sixth person in Slovenia (16.5 %) declared themselves members of a
different ethnic group: nearly 2 % as Serbs; 1.8 % as Croats; 1.1 % as Bosnians, of
which 0.53 % declared themselves as Muslims and 0.41 % as Bosnians; 0.31 % as
Albanians; 0.2 % as Macedonians; 0.14 % as Montenegrins and 0.17 % as Roma.
System of Government
Since 25 June 1991, Slovenia has been an independent country. It is a
democratic republic based on the principle of separating powers into legislative,
executive and judicial. Legislative power is exercised by the
National Assembly
and the
National Council
. Executive power is vested in the
Government
that
consists of the Prime Minister and Ministers and is responsible to the National
Assembly. When carrying out its judicial function the
judiciary
is independent,
bound by the Constitution and the law.
The President of the Republic
represents
the Republic of Slovenia and is the supreme commander of armed forces.
Residents of Slovenia exercise
local self-government
in municipalities
and other local communities. Local matters that only affect the residents of a
municipality and can thus be dealt with independently, fall under the jurisdiction
of municipalities. The state may impose by law upon the municipalities to carry
out individual tasks that are under national jurisdiction, provided the necessary
resources are made available.
Since 2004, Slovenia has been a
member of the European Union
and
NATO
.
The Republic of Slovenia
