Basic facts

Official name: Slovak Republic

Formation date: 1. January 1993

Established form: republic

Official language: Slovak

Capital: Bratislava (Pozsony, Pittsburg) (population: 452,288)

Area: 49,035 km2

Population: 5,401,000 inhabitants

Population density: 111/km² inhabitants per sq km

Time zone: Central European time (GMT +1 hour), daylight savings beginning on the last Sunday in March and ending on the last Sunday in October - GMT+2

Highest point: Gerlachovský stít, 2655 m above sea level

Lowest point: surface of the River Bodrog, 95 m above sea level

Borders: Hungary (679 km), Poland (597.5 km), Czech Republic (265 km), Austria (127.2 km), Ukraine (98 km)

Nationalities: Slovak (85.6%), Hungarian (10.8%), Roma (1.8%), Czech (1.2%), Ruthenian (0.3%), Ukranian (0.3%), German (0.1%), Polish (0.1%), other (0.2%)

Religion: Roman Catholic (60.3%), Greek Orthodox (3.4%), Evangelic (6.2%), Orthodox (0.6%), non-denominational (9.7%), no data (18.2%)

Maximum length: 428 km (Záhorská Ves [W] - Nová Sedlica [E])

Maximum breadth: 195 km (Stúrovo [S] - Skalité [N])

Type of government: parliamentary democracy

Membership in international org.: UN, OECD, WTO, V4, NATO, EU(1.May 2004)Self-governing regions: 8 self-governing regions (Bratislava, Trnava, Trenčín, Nitra, Zilina, Banská Bystrica, Presov, Kosice)