Slovak Republic Missions

Missionaries Serving:

John and Kathy Lesondak

Capital

Bratislava (448,800, 1994 est.)

System of Government

Unitary Multiparty Republic

Area

49,014 Sq Km (18,924 Sq Mi) (twice the size of New Hampshire)

Estimated 2000 Population

5,463,800

Geography

Slovakia is a landlocked country located in the heart of Europe. It is surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains to the north and northeast, and lower mountains on the south that form the Low Tatra and Slovak Ore Mountains. To the east are other ridges of the Eastern Carpathian Mountains. Mountains cover more than 33% of the land area and are heavily forested. The lowland area in the southwest is part of the Hungarian Plain.

Climate

Slovakia has a continental climate with warm humid summers and cold dry winters. Average temperature ranges on the plains are from 30 to 27 degrees Fahrenheit in January to 66 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit in July. In the high mountains winter temperatures can fall to 10 degrees Fahrenheit.

People

The ethnic majority in Slovakia are the Slovaks who account for 85% of the population. Ethnic minorities include Moravians who account for 10% of the population, Gypsies for 1.5%, Czechs and Ukrainians for 1% each. The rest are Magyars, Germans and Poles.

Vital Statistics

Life Expectancy at Birth: 66.9 years male, 75.2 years female (1991). Infant Mortality Rate: 13.2 per 1,000 live births (1991). HIV/AIDS Adult Prevalence Rate: less than 0.01% (1999 est.).

Religions

Slovakia is mostly Christian, with 64% of the population Roman Catholic and 8% Evangelical Lutheran. Greek Orthodox Christians account for 0.6% of the population, 10.4% are atheist and 17% are unidentified.

Languages

The official language is Slovak, although Magyar and Czech are also widely spoken. Russian and English are taught in school as second languages.

History

In 1918 after the collapse of the Habsburg Empire the Slovaks joined the closely related Czechs to form the independent republic of Czechoslovakia. Following World War II, Czechoslovakia became a communist nation within Soviet-ruled Eastern Europe. Soviet influence collapsed in 1989 and Czechoslovakia once more became free. On June 8, 1990 the first free elections in more than four decades took place. The return to democracy also instigated an insurgence for Slovak independence during 1991, and there were calls for a declaration of sovereignty from Czechoslovakia. In June 1992 the parliamentary elections brought the independence matter to a head and on August 27, 1992 Slovak Prime Minister Vladimir Mecair and his Czech counterpart Vaclav Klaus announced that Czechoslovakia would no longer exist as a single state as of January 1, 1993, opening the path for independent Slovak and Czech republics. In March 1993 Michal Kovac became President and Mecair continued as Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic. In 1999 Rudolf Schuster was elected president in the country’s first direct, popular election.