Ljubljana related
STA, 15 May 2022 – Slovenian families have contracted in size over the past 40 years. The number of those living alone has more than doubled and the number of childless families has risen by nearly a half, shows data released by the Statistics Office ahead of International Day of Families.
Slovenian statisticians have been monitoring data on families since 1981, during which time society and the way of life in the country has changed, which is reflected in the figures.
Last year, 80% of Slovenia’s population lived in families as defined by statistics, which compares to 88% forty years ago.
The Statistics Office notes that the increase in the share of population living alone is linked to population ageing. The share of those aged 80 or over has tripled and it is this group that tends to live alone or in institutional households such as care homes.
Many of those who live alone are foreigners. These are often men who came to Slovenia on their own to get a job. Over the past decade alone, the share of foreign nationals in the population has doubled.
Compared to 40 years ago, the share of families without children has increased from 21% to 30%, and the share of those with two or more children has decreased. Only one out of four families has two children now but it used to be one out of three.
The share of large families, those having three or more children, has declined from 10% to 6%, while the percentage of families with one child has remained roughly the same (39% in 2021 and 37% in 1981).
The average number of children in families with children has decreased from 1.70 to 1.56.
More families being without children is in part attributed to the longer life expectancy and population ageing as more couples grow old together.
Married couples with children accounted for 63% of all families forty years ago, but the share has since contracted to 34% as the proportion of families of cohabiting couples with children has gone up from 1% to 13%, and the share of single-parent families has increased from 14% to 23%.
Since 2007 more than half of children are born to unmarried couples.
STA, 8 April 2022 - Most parties standing in the upcoming general election agree that a comprehensive pension reform will be needed to ensure a sustainable pension system. They do differ though on the ways to achieve this. They also have different proposals on how to improve Slovenia's demographic situation.
Every year the public pension fund covers the shortfall due to insufficient revenue by funds from the state budget. Last year, EUR 718.7 million went to cover the gap. The average number of pensioners was some 624,800, an increase of 0.01% year-on-year, the smallest uptick in the past 31 years.
Responding to questions from the STA on the matter, the parties urged a new pension reform as the existing system is already ten years old. They also called for efforts to tackle problems facing youth, including housing, and demographic challenges with most having in mind incentives for more children.
The ruling Democratic Party (SDS) would aim to ensure a pension system that provides decent pensions and is financially sustainable. They are in favour of educational system changes that would be aligned with the challenges of the time. They would also continue their family-friendly policy and tax policy.
New Slovenia (NSi) would strengthen the second pillar through tax and other incentives for both employees and employers. They also propose a tax-free year for first-time employees and improving work-life balance. For a worker replacing an employee on parental leave, contributions would be exempted.
The Freedom Movement party, SDS's main rival according to opinion polls, finds it key that pensions must not be less than 10% above the poverty threshold. The second pillar should become mandatory and participation in the third pillar and staying in employment longer would be further encouraged.
Strengthening all the three pillars is what the Social Democrats (SD) have in mind. Slovenian Sovereign Holding would remain the guardian of state assets, and the party plans to tap the return of state-owned enterprises as a permanent source of a demographic fund. They also plan construction of 10,000 public rental flats and free kindergarten and school meals.
The Marjan Šarec Party (LMŠ) believes that the pension reform will be necessary but only in 10-15 years. They would also incentivise participation in the second and third pillars, boost value added, build non-profit flats and come up with measures to facilitate international adoption procedures.
Meanwhile, the Left says that Slovenia is not facing a demographic but a social crisis. An ageing population is not unusual, but society should take proper care of the elderly, they note, urging a pension increase. They see a gradual equalisation of employer and employee contributions as a key new source of co-financing pensions.
The Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB) would strive to ensure the retirement age does not increase and pensions are not lowered. Their priority is more non-profit rental housing and they would also cap rents. Moreover, 5,000 jobs for young people would be provided in the public administration.
Tying pension adjustment to wage growth is part of the Pensioners' Party's (DeSUS) platform. They regard mechanism that would compensate for the shortfall of contributions due to robotization as a new source for the pension fund. Anyone emigrating from Slovenia would have to pay back the costs of their education.
The National Party (SNS) highlighted that any pension reform was contingent on coordination among all parties in parliament, so listing measures made no sense at the moment. They would make the educational system more aligned with business. They mentioned "normalisation of the approach to sexuality" as a way to improve the demographic situation.
Our Land would ensure pensioners can work without restrictions if they want to and if their employer agrees. They would set up a targeted mechanism to encourage young people to take up farming.
Connecting Slovenia, which also includes the party Concretely, would not raise the retirement age but would allow pensioners to work in the private sector according to the needs of the labour market. Young people should not be misled into professions that do not offer a decent living, they added.
STA, 14 December 2021 - Immigration to Slovenia is accelerating and as of 1 January this year one in seven residents, or 13.9% of the entire population, were born abroad. This compares to 8.5% ten years ago, show Statistics Office data.
Almost two-thirds of foreign-born residents immigrated after Slovenia's independence and one in five arrived between 2018 and 2020. In 2020 a record 23,383 immigrants were recorded.
Former Yugoslav republics are by far the biggest source of immigration. Of the more than 292,000 foreign-born residents, 133,000 came from Bosnia-Herzegovina, 43,000 from Croatia and 30,000 from Serbia.
But a significant share also come from non-Balkan countries, most notably from Germany (7,600), Italy (4,600) and Russia (4,000), but also China (1,200) and the United States (900).
Some 46% of foreign-born residents have Slovenian citizenship, some of whom have had Slovenian citizenship since birth because they were born to Slovenian parents.
The Statistics Office released the data set to mark International Migrants Day.
STA, 30 November 2021 - The population in Slovenia has increased by 59,000 in the decade between 2011 to 2021, with the number of households up by 46,000 and families by 20,000. Households have an average of 2.41 members, while families with children have an average of 1.56 children, according to the Statistics Office.
Slovenia's population numbered 2,108,977 on 1 January 2021, of which 859,782 (98%) lived in private households and 682 (2%) in group and special households - the largest number of those (16,000) were residents of homes for the elderly.
The largest number of households were single-family, a total of 462,744 (54%), while one-person households accounted for 292,301 (34%). In every 20th household, there was at least one person who is not considered a member of the family, according to the statistical definition.
Since 2011, the number of households has increased by 46,000 (6%) and by 35,000 (4%) in three years. There has been an increase in the number of two-person, one-person and large households (with six or more members), and a decrease in the number of households with three, four or five members.
One in seven people in Slovenia lived in a one-person household in 2021. Many of them were foreign nationals, with 43,848 male and 5,017 female one-person households. Most of the foreign nationals were men aged 21-27.
At the beginning of 2021, there were 587,448 families in Slovenia, 412,534 (70%) with children and 174,914 (30%) without. A total of 1,683,792 (80%) of the population lived in families - the number of families has increased by 20,000 since 2011 and by 10,000 in the last three years.
The most common family type were married couples with children - 202,458, accounting for almost 35% of all families, although the number of such families has been declining for more than three decades. The second most common family type (25%) were married couples without children.
The third most common type were single-parent families with children - 23% of all families and 33% of families with children, and the majority of such families were single mothers (80%).
The most significant increase in the last decade was seen in cohabiting families without children, who accounted for 5% of all families. There were also 255 same-sex partner families in Slovenia in 2021, 52 with children and 203 without.
Families had an average 1.10 children, up to 1.56 if only families with children are considered. The lowest number of children was recorded in the municipalities of Šalovci (1.36) and Lendava (1.39) in the north-east, and the highest in the municipalities of Gorenja Vas - Poljane (1.98), Železniki (1.84) and Horjul (1.83).
STA, 27 October 2021 - A total of 24,016 people died in Slovenia in 2020, which is 3,428 (16.7%) more than in 2019, with the average age of the deceased being up by one year. The high mortality rate, especially in November and December 2020, resulted in the highest negative natural increase since 1945, the Statistics Office said on Wednesday.
Among the total of 24,016 people that died in Slovenia last year, 11,733 were men and 12,283 women, while the natural population increase has remained in the negative since 2017, the statistical data show.
The Covid-19 epidemic in 2020 and the high mortality rates, especially in November and December, contributed to an even more substantial negative natural increase.
Last year, the population growth rate was -2.5 per 1,000 inhabitants, which is the lowest natural increase in Slovenia since 1945.
The average age of the deceased last year was 79.2 years, which is 1.1 years higher than the average age at the time of death in Slovenia in 2019.
On average, Slovenian men die younger than women. Last year, the average age at death for males was 75.3 years, while the average age at death for females was 82.9 years.
The pandemic that marked 2020 had a significant impact on mortality too. While it was not so pronounced during the first wave in the spring, it became more obvious in the second half of the year, especially in the last quarter.
The excess mortality rate in 2020 was 18.8%, which means that 3,795 (18.8%) more people died than on average in the period between 2015 and 2019, said the Statistics Office.
Last year, 66 people died on average every, 10 more than in 2015-2019. The excess deaths are also reflected in the fact that in all years between 2000 and 2019, there was only one day in which 100 or more people died, compared to 38 such days in 2020.
All of these days were in November or December - 6 December was the day with the highest number of deaths that year (130). The week between 30 November to 6 December 2020 was the week with the highest number of deaths that year (801).
STA, 23 September 2021 - Prime Minister Janez Janša attended on Thursday the Demographic Summit in Budapest, which he labelled as one of the most important events in the debate on the future of Europe, as demographics is one of the most important issues in the EU.
He emphasised the importance of the family and said that the EU needed a bolder family policy, the prime minister's office said in a press release.
Janša participated in a panel on family as a key to sustainability alongside his Polish, Czech and Hungarian counterparts Mateusz Morawiecki, Andrej Babiš and Viktor Orban, ex-US Vice President Mike Pence and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
"Due to the negative trends, demography is one of the important issues faced by the entire Europe. There is currently no country in the world that does not depend on demographic issues," the Slovenian prime minister said at the panel.
.@JJansaSDS: Potrebujemo bolj pogumno družinsko politiko. #DemografskiVrh #Budimpešta #Demografija pic.twitter.com/6UzuzXnRFQ
— Vlada Republike Slovenije (@vladaRS) September 23, 2021
The European renewal starts in Central Europe!
— Visegrad 24 ???????? (@visegrad24) September 23, 2021
The Czech, Slovenian, Hungarian and Polish Prime Ministers alongside the Serbian President, signed a declaration, committing to use all available means and resources to help couples have children.
?????????? pic.twitter.com/5MuWPTEkLN
Slovenia had a negative natural increase last year, and the same is true for other European countries.
"When trends in the economy are worsening, we immediately hold a lot of crisis meetings. And when we have a demographic crisis, the numbers are bad and this lasts for years or decades, almost no one notices."
Janša stressed that the EU needed a bold family policy, as financial issues, while having an impact on the creation of family, were only a part of the picture.
"We cannot talk only about the economic circumstances for starting a family, because family policies of individual states also affect this," he said, noting that the Covid-19 pandemic had also contributed to the declining birth rates.
Janša argued that young people should be assisted in creating a family, which should be supported as the fundamental cell of society, because "family needs to be in the forefront, as families are the core of a state and string society."
He welcomed the European Commission creating a demography and democracy portfolio and a European commissioner dealing solely with these issues in the current term. "We are still waiting for bold decisions that would put family first," he added.
The Demographic Summit was also attended by Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Minister Janez Cigler Kralj, who participated in a panel on best practice in demography and family policy, the release adds.
STA, 25 July 2021 - The Covid-19 epidemic has left an indelible mark on Slovenia's demographics. A negative natural change recorded in Slovenia last year was the highest since 1945 due to high mortality as the number of deaths exceeded the number of births by almost 5,250, show data by the Statistics Office.
The 2020 natural population decrease is mostly a result of above-average high mortality in November and December during the second Covid-19 wave, the Statistics Office said on Friday.
More than 24,000 residents died last year, an increase of nearly 3,800 on the average figure recorded in 2015-2019. Excess mortality was the highest in the last quarter of 2020 when the relevant average was up by two thirds compared to the same period in 2015-2019.
A positive natural change was recorded only in the third quarter of 2020 when some 5,140 babies were born. In total about 18,770 babies were born last year, down by 3% on 2019.
On average, 51 babies were born per day in 2020, 66 residents died, 28 got married and ten got a divorce, 99 moved into Slovenia and 48 moved out.
Domestic migration increased by some 40% in 2020, mainly due to Covid restrictions and ensuing registrations of temporary residence.
Also due to Covid restrictions, the number of weddings decreased by almost 25% on 2019 to some 5,200 and the total of divorces dropped by 28% to some 1,770, the Statistics Office said.
Slovenia recorded what is the highest positive net migration since 2008 last year as the number of those who moved in exceeded the total of those who moved out by almost 18,400.
STA, 1 October 2020 - An ageing society, Slovenia has some 424,000 elderly, that is people aged 65 or more, or almost 20% of its population. Still, the elderly seem to be quite fit, with over a third saying their health is good or very good prior to the 1 October International Day of Older Persons, this year dedicated to health amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the moment the most burning issue regarding the elderly in Slovenia is containing the spread of the virus at care homes, which are home to some 4% of the elderly.
Related: Slovenia’s Aging Population, in Graphic Form (as shown in the main image to this story)
Several care homes were hotspots of the spring wave of the coronavirus epidemic, with official statistics showing more than 80% of all fatalities were older than 75.
The epidemic has also painfully exposed the dire staffing situation at public care homes, although they can count on 550 new jobs in the next two years.
The government has already earmarked EUR 29 million for the purpose, while the new stimulus package, which is yet to be passed in parliament, is to introduce the option of temporary redeployment of care and health staff to care homes.
Another burning issue is the long time it takes to get a bed in a care home; data from the Association of Care Homes show over 12,200 applications are pending.
The ministry in charge of social affairs has promised additional beds would be provided through concessions for public care home services and through the drawing of EU funds.
The EU funds would be used to increase daycare centre and temporary accommodation capacity, with a tender for building 20 daycare centres and 10 temporary accommodation units currently open, Minister Janez Cigler Kralj has recently said.
Capacity constraints are also expected to be further addressed with a new bill on long-term care, which would make the elderly eligible for assistance at home, if they wish so.
More funds for the elderly are to come from the planned national demographic fund, which is to manage state assets worth almost EUR 8.6 billion, and provide 10% of dividends and the money from the sale of state assets for building elderly homes. 40% of the dividends would go to co-finance the public pension budget.
In its message issued prior to International Day of Older Persons, the Slovenian Pensioner Association (ZDUS) urged treating the elderly as equals in society.
ZDUS joined calls by international NGOs and the UN for for inter-generational cooperation, tolerance, cooperation and fight against prejudice and discrimination on the basis of age. It said the elderly do not want to be a burden, they demand only what they are entitled to by the constitution and by modern civilisational standards.
Other associations have highlighted the Covid-19-related issues they face.
The pensioners' trade union pointed out that the novel coronavirus and its ramifications had revealed that the authorities had been ignoring burning issues of the elderly for decades.
There is still no long-term care system, whereas healthcare has not been adjusted to the needs of the elderly and disabled. A large number of older persons live in poverty and unacceptable living conditions and there is not enough bed vacancies in nursing homes, it added.
Srebrna Nit, an association promoting dignified old age, warned about obstacles which had prevented the elderly from making use of new measures introduced this year.
Small pensions that are not enough to make it possible for the elderly to redeem government holiday vouchers and technical issues preventing them from using free public transportation are examples of such obstacles.
New Covid-19-related restrictions for the elderly are on the horizon after the community was already restricted to certain shopping hours during the epidemic, said Srebrna Nit, deeming the measure discriminatory towards older persons and a violation of human rights.
Similarly, Equal Opportunities Ombudsman Miha Lobnik said the elderly had been severely affected by the pandemic, urging the government not to forget about their needs when attending to public interest.
Urging proportionate measures in protecting vulnerable groups, he said the elderly had been allowed to do their shopping only in dedicated hours while banned from shops in the rest of the day for a period during the spring lockdown, adding no other EU country had had such a measure in place.
The UN declared the day 30 years ago to highlight the role of older persons and their contribution in society, with this year's lead theme being "Pandemic: Do They Change how We Address Age and Ageing?"
Statistics Office (SURS) data for 2019 show that 37% of Slovenian elderly people assessed their health as good or very good, up from 26% in 2010, as opposed to 21% who said their health was poor or very poor, down from 33%.
Nevertheless, 65% of all older persons had a chronic condition or another health issue, but 57% engage in recreational activity at least 150 minutes a week, which is the World Health Organisation's minimum to keep healthy.
SURS data for the start of 2019 show that the share of the elderly in Slovenia rose from 17% ten years ago to almost 20% in 2019, which translates into some 424,000 people.
However, the EUROPOP 2019 projection for Slovenia shows that in ten years' time the elderly will account for 24% of Slovenia's population; in 50 years the share will rise to 31%.
All our stories on demographics and Slovenia
STA, 31 July 2020 - On 1 April, Slovenia had a total of 2,097,195 residents, which is 12,894 or 0.6% more than on the same date last year, show data from the Statistics Office (SURS). In the first quarter of the year, the number of Slovenian citizens fell, while the number of foreigners residing in Slovenia increased.
In the first quarter, the number of residents was up by 1,334 year-on-year, but the number of Slovenian citizens decreased by 1,900 or 0.1%.
On the other hand, the number of foreign citizens residing in Slovenia was up by 3,200 or 2.1% to 159,582, which represented 7.6% of Slovenia's total population.
At the beginning of April, there were 1,052,649 men and 1,044,546 women residing in Slovenia, but the share of women among Slovenian citizens alone was 51.2%. The SURS has noted that this share has been slowly declining for years.
Among the foreign citizens residing in Slovenia, women represented only 33.4%. After growing for several years, this share has been down since the beginning of 2018 by 1.9 percentage points.
In the first quarter of 2020, immigration to Slovenia was down by 2% compared to the same period last year.
While 7,622 persons moved to Slovenia in the first quarter, 4,941 moved out of Slovenia, which is 66% more than in the same period in 2019.
Slovenian citizens who moved out of the country (1,599) represented around 50% of the number of foreign citizens who left Slovenia in this period (3,342).
According to SURS, a total of 4,364 births were recorded in Slovenia in the first quarter, while 5,711 residents died, which is 201 and 269 fewer compared to the same period last year, respectively.
In the last year, the rate of natural increase, the difference between the number of births and deaths per 1,000 residents, changed from -2.8 to -2.6.
All our stories on demographics and Slovenia
STA, 23 June 2020 - A total of 19,328 children were born in Slovenia in 2019, 1.3% fewer then the year before, but the birth rate remained at 1.61. The number of deaths, at 20,588, exceeded the number of births for the third year running, show data released on Tuesday by the Statistics Office.
This is the second year in a row that fewer than 20,000 children were born in Slovenia after the figure had been exceeded for ten consecutive years prior to 2018.
At 9,977, the number of boys born fell short of 10,000 for the first time in 12 years. The number for girls, already below 10,000 in 2016, was 9,351.
One of the reasons for the declining number of births in recent years lies in an increasing number of women putting off the decision to have their first child. The average age increased again last year, to 29.6 from 29.5, while this compares to 23 three decades ago.
This also pushes up the average age of the mothers of newborns in general - it was 31.1 last year, while it stood at 25.9 in 1989.
Another reason is the decline in the birth rate seen in the 1980s and 1990s, which has led to a lower number of women aged between 25 and 34 at present.
Meanwhile, the parents of 57.7% of the 2019 newborns were not married. 16,175 children were born to parents who both had Slovenian citizenship and 1,339 to parents neither of whom had Slovenian citizenship.
Luka was the favourite name picked for boys for the 21st year running, being given to 2.8% of the newborns, while Zala made it back to the top among girls with 2.9%.
Meanwhile, the number of the deaths increased by 0.5% compared to 2018. The average age of the deceased exceeded 78 for the first time last year, reaching 78.1. It was 73.9 for men and 82.1 for women. In the last decade, the average for men increased by 3.8 years and for women by three years.
According to the Statistics Office, boys born last year can expect to live until they are 78.5, while the life expectancy for girls is 84.2. In the last ten years, the figures have increased by 9.1 and 7.1 years, respectively.
The share of so called premature deaths, meaning before the age of 65, was 16% last year - 22.4% among men and 9.8% among women. The gap between men and women in this category has been shrinking in the last decade. In 2009 the share for men was 30.8% and for women 12.4%.
The infant mortality rate last year was 2.1 deaths per 1,000 live births. The rate has been decreasing in Slovenia in the last decade and is among the lowest among EU member states.
More stories on demographics in Slovenia, while you can see more on births in Slovenia in 2019 here
