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South of Austria, north of Croatia, west of Hungary, east of Italy, with 46.6 kilometers (29 miles) of coastline along the Gulf of Venice. Mountains and valleys. Equivalent to 142.4 by 142.4 kilometers (89 by 89 miles). Capital: Ljubljana
The Slovenes were part of Austria until 1918. In 1929 they joined the Serbs and Croats in forming Yugoslavia. Slovenia was a republic within the new communist Yugoslavia after World War II. In 1991, with the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and dissatisfied with Serb majority domination, they established their independence after a 10-day war.
The Republic of Slovenia is a stable parliamentary democracy. It joined NATO and the European Union in 2004.
Joined the European Union on 1 May 2004
Figures unless otherwise stated are from the CIA Factbook.
Estimated per capita GDP:
2008 $29,500 (a little below Italy and above the Czech Republic)
2007 $28,200
2006 $26,400
GDP annual growth rate:
2008: 4.3%
2007: 6.8%
2006: 5.9%
Unemployment estimated for 2008: 6.75%
Military expenditures as a percentage of GDP: 1.7 (2005)
Factbook: "Slovenia, with its historical ties to Western Europe, enjoys a GDP per capita substantially higher than that of the other transitioning economies [from state to private enterprises] of Central Europe. In March 2004, Slovenia became the first transition country to graduate from borrower status to donor partner at the World Bank."
Deaths: 10.51. Births: 8.99, up from 8.95 in 2005.
Estimate for July 2008: 2.0 million, roughly the same as 2005. Density for 2005: 100 persons per square kilometer. Growth rate for 2008: 0.088 percent per year.
More arriving than leaving. A gain of 0.64 persons per 1,000 population, down from 1.0 in 2005
Infant mortality for 2008: 4.3, down from 4.45 in 2005 (deaths before the age of one year, per 1,000 live births).
Average life expectancy at birth estimated for 2008: 76.73, up from 76.14 in 2005
Living with HIV/AIDS, ages 15 to 49: 0.1 percent. (2001)
Slovenes 92 percent, Croatians 1 percent, Serbs 0.5 percent.
Roman Catholic 70.8 percent, atheist 4.3 percent.
SOURCES:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
Copyright © 2008 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.