Slovenia

What is Slovenia?

Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia is a country in southern Central Europe bordering Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north. The capital of Slovenia is Ljubljana.

Slovenia is the only country once to have formed a part of a socialist state to be at the same time a member of the European Union, the Eurozone, the Schengen area, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe and NATO.

Politics

The Slovenian head of state is the president, who is elected by popular vote every five years. The executive branch is headed by the prime minister and the council of ministers or cabinet, who are elected by the National Assembly.

President:

dr. Danilo Türk

Prime Minister Borut Pahor

GeographyFour major European geographic regions meet in Slovenia:

• the Alps• the Dinarides • the Pannonian Plain• the Mediterranean

Slovenia's highest peak is Triglav (2,864 m; 9,396 ft);

ALPS

DINARIDES

PANNONIAN

PLAIN

MEDITERRANEAN

Around half of the country (11,691 km²; 4,514 sq mi) is covered by forests; the third most forested country in Europe, after Finland and Sweden. Remnants of primeval forests are still to be found, the largest in the Kočevje area. Grassland covers 5,593 square kilometres (2,159 sq mi) and fields and gardens 2,471 square kilometres (954 sq mi).

There are 363 square kilometres (140 sq mi) of orchards and 216 square kilometres (83 sq mi) of vineyards.

SLOVENIAN CLIMATE

SUB-MEDITERRANEAN

ALPINECONTINENTAL

Demographics

Slovenia's main ethnic group is Slovene (83%). Nationalities from the former Yugoslavia (Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Montenegrin) form 5.3%, and the Hungarian, Albanian, Roma, Italian and other minorities form 2.8% of the population. Ethnic affiliation of 8.9% was either undeclared or unknown.

With 99 inhabitants per square kilometre (256/sq mi), Slovenia ranks low among the European countries in population density.

The official language is Slovene, which is a member of the South Slavic language group. Hungarian and Italian enjoy the status of official languages in the ethnically mixed regions along the Hungarian and Italian borders.

Life expectancy in 2003 was 72.2 years for men and 80 years for women. Slovenia ranks number 8 on the list of countries by suicide rate.

By religion, Slovenes are traditionally largely Roman Catholic (57.8% according to the 2002 Census).

Culture• Slovenia's first book was

printed by the Protestant reformer Primož Trubar (1508-1586). It was actually two books, Latin: Catechismus (a catechism) and Abecedarium, which was published in 1550 in Tübingen, Germany.

Some of Slovenia's greatest literates were the poets France Prešeren (1800-1849), Oton Župančič, Srečko Kosovel, Edvard Kocbek and Dane Zajc.

Writer Ivan Cankar

Slovenia is a homeland of numerous musicians and composers, including Renaissance composer Jacobus Gallus (1550-1591), who greatly influenced Central European classical music, and the violin virtuoso Giuseppe Tartini. In the twentieth century, Bojan Adamič was a renowned film music composer.

Jacobus Gallus

Contemporary popular musicians have been Lojze Slak, Slavko Avsenik, Laibach, Vlado Kreslin, Pero Lovšin, Pankrti, Zoran Predin, Lačni Franz, New Swing Quartet, DJ Umek, Valentino Kanzyani, Siddharta, Big Foot Mama,Terrafolk, Katalena, Magnifico and others.

Lojze Slak

Biodiversity

The country's fauna includes marmots, Alpine ibex, and chamois. There are numerous deer, roe deer, boar, and hares. The edible dormouse is often found in the Slovenian beech forests.

There is a wide variety of birds, such as the Tawny Owl, the Long-eared Owl, the Eagle Owl, hawks, and Short-toed Eagles.

Alpine ibex

Domestic animals originating in Slovenia include the Carniolan honeybee, the indigenous Karst Shepherd and the Lipizzan horse. The exploration of various cave systems has yielded discoveries of many cave-dwelling insects and other organisms.

Lipizzan horse

White stork in Prekmurje

Proteus anguineus in Postojna cave

Education

The Slovenian education system consists of:

• pre-school education

• basic education (single structure of primary and lower secondary education)

• (upper) secondary education: vocational and technical education, secondary general education

• higher vocational education

• higher education

Currently there are three public universities in Slovenia:

• University of Ljubljana • University of Maribor• University of Primorska

The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Slovenia's education as the 12th best in the world, being significantly higher than the OECD average.

University of Ljubljana

University of Maribor

Our school: Gimnazija Slovenske Konjice

Famous places

Lake Bohinj

Lake Bled

Secovlje Salt-pans

Planica

Planica

Piran

National dishes

Potica

Zganci – hard boiled corn mush

Krvavice

Prekmurska gibanica

Kranjska klobasa, sauerkraut and Idrijski žlikrofi