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This article is about the demographic features of the population of Slovakia, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. The demographic statistics are from the Statistical Office of the SR, unless otherwise indicated.
Contents
Population
Total population: 5,397,036
Age structure
0–14 years: 15.6% (male 437,755; female 417,797)
15–64 years: 71.6% (male 1,955,031; female 1,965,554)
65 years and over: 12.8% (male 262,363; female 438,538 (2011 est)
Median age
total: 38 years, male: 36.5 years, female: 39.5 years (2012 est)
Sex ratio
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15–64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.6 male(s)/female
total population: 0.94 male(s)/female (2011 est.)
Immigration
Immigration to Slovakia is one of the lowest in the European Union.
Infant mortality rate
total: 6.47 deaths/1,000 live births
male 7.54 deaths/1,000 live births
female 5.34 deaths/1,000 live births (2012 est.)
Life expectancy at birth
total population: 76.03 years
male: 72.14 years
female: 80.12 years (2012 est.)
Ethnic groups
The majority of the 5.4 million inhabitants of Slovakia are Slovak (80.7%). Hungarians are the largest ethnic minority (8.5%) and are concentrated in the southern and eastern regions of Slovakia. Other ethnic groups include Roma (2.0%), Czechs, Croats, Rusyns, Ukrainians, Germans, Poles, Serbs and Jews (about 2,300 remain of the estimated pre-WWII population of 120,000).
While both international organizations (the United Nations and the World Bank) and the official Slovak statistics office offer population figures for ethnic groups, these figures seldom come close to agreement. Figures for the Roma population (for a variety of reasons) vary between 1% and 10% of the population. In the most recent survey carried out by the Slovak Government's Roma Plenipotentiary, the figure for the percentage of Roma was arrived at through interview with municipality representatives and mayors, according to how many Roma they think live in their jurisdictions. The figure arrived at by this means was in the region of 300,000 (about 5.6%). Note that in the case of the 5.6%, however, the above percentages of Hungarians and Slovaks are lower accordingly.
The official state language is Slovak, and Hungarian is widely spoken in the southern regions.
Despite its modern European economy and society, Slovakia has a significant rural element. About 45% of Slovaks live in villages with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants, and 14% in villages with fewer than 1,000.
Religion
The Slovak constitution guarantees freedom of religion. The majority of Slovak citizens (62%) practice Roman Catholicism; the second-largest group consider themselves atheists (13%). About 6.9% are Protestants, Greek catholic 4.1%, and 0.9% are Orthodox. Reformed Christian Church 2.0%, other 6.4% (2004 survey). There are 10,600 Muslims in Slovakia.