Ireland
Slovakia Travel and Destination Guide
BACKGROUND INFO
Full Name
Slovak Republic
Capital City
Bratislava
Area
48,845 sq km
Population
5,447,502
Time Zone
GMT/UTC +1
Daylight Saving Start
end of March
Daylight Saving End
end of October
Weights Measures System
Metric
Geography
Slovakia sits in the heart of Europe, straddling the northwestern end of the Carpathian Mountains and forming a clear physical barrier between the plains of Poland to the north and Hungary to the south. The spectacular High Tatra alpine range runs along Slovakia's northeastern border, shared with Poland. Gerlachovský (2655m/8708ft) is the highest of the mighty Tatra peaks. Although almost 80% of Slovakia is over 750m (2460ft) above sea level, the portion south of Nitra is a fertile lowland stretching down to the Danube River, which forms the border with Hungary. Slovakia also shares borders with the Czech Republic in the northwest, Austria in the southwest and Ukraine in the east.
Languages
• Slovak (official)
A West Slavic language, closely related to Czech.
• Hungarian (other)
• Czech (other)
• German (other)
People
Slovak (85.7%), Hungarian (10.6%), Romany (1.6%), Czech (1%)
Religion
60% Roman Catholic, 10% Protestant, 4% Orthodox
Government Type
Parliamentary Democracy
Government Leaders
Ivan Gašparovič
President (head of state)
Robert Fico
Prime Minister (head of government)
Country Dialing Code
421
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