Geography Of Slovenia

The Republic of Slovenia is a country in CentralAbout half of the country (11,691 km ²) is covered by
Europe and since 2004 a member state of theforests, making Slovenia the third most forested
European Union. It borders Italy to the west by thecountry in Europe, after Finland and Sweden. There
Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the southare still remnants of original forest, the largest in the
and east, Hungary to the northeast and north toarea of Kočevje. In turn, the pastoral areas occupy
Austria.5593 km ² and fields and gardens 2.471 km ².
It has a population of 2,009,000 inhabitants. SomeThere are 363 km ² of orchards and 216 km ² of
400,000 Slovenians living abroad, mainly in Italy, Austriavineyards.
and the United States.As of 2007, Slovenia has a population of 2,009,000
Present-day Slovenia was formed on 25 June 1991 toinhabitants, although its population is declining slowly,
independence from Yugoslavia, after a relatively shortalmost in equilibrium, since in 2005 it was still 2000 more
armed conflict called War of the ten days the armythan 2,011,614 inhabitants today. Life expectancy is 76.5
opposed to the former federation.years. 99.7% of the population is literate. The average
In 2004 joined the European Union.number of children per woman is only 1.26 which is
Slovenia in 2007 is part of the Eurozone, the Schengencausing their population is reduced by 0.06% each
area, the Council of Europe and is being part of theyear.
OECD.Novo Mesto, the largest population in the region of
Slovenia is a small Central European state of 20,273Jugovzhodna Slovenija (Slovenia southeast)
km ² which is located between Italy, Austria, HungaryWith 95 inhabitants / km ², Slovenia is in the last
and Croatia. It is a country with a very small expenseplaces among European countries in population density
to the Adriatic Sea on the Gulf of Trieste, via the port(320/km ² compared with those for the Netherlands
of Koper, on the Istrian peninsula. This is partly an areaor 195/km ² for Italy). Approximately 50% of the total
populated by Slovenes who speak Italian.population lives in urban areas.
The relief includes hills Karavanke Slovenian, PohorjeThe official language is Slovene, which is in a group of
massif and crystalline limestone plateaus of NotranjskoSouth Slavic languages. The Hungarian and Italian
and Dolenjska. The Julian Alps, with the highestenjoy the status of official language in nationally mixed
elevation in the country, Mount Triglav (2,864 m), retainregions along the Italian and Hungarian border.
traces of Quaternary glacial erosion, with lakes asThe predominant religion in Slovenia is Roman Catholic,
Bled. The karst formations, extending from Ljubljana towith 57.8% of the population professed that creed,
the coast, are carved by underground rivers andMuslim 2.4%, the Eastern Orthodox Church, with 2.3%,
caves are huge, like the caves of Postojna, 19 km long.Protestant, 0 9%, others 3.7%; agnostics and atheists
Apart from the Drava and Sava river include Kolpa.10,1% and 22.8% said no.
The climate is mostly downhill, except in areas near theThe ethnic composition consists of: Slovenian 87.8%,
sea. The climate varies from temperate coastal to theSerbs 2.4%, Croats 2.8%, Bosnian 1.4%. There are also
most extreme of the eastern highlands and mountains,Hungarian minority (0.4%), Italian (0.1%) and Gypsy.
here with higher summer rainfall.