Slovakia is a landlocked republic, which is located in central Europe. It is surrounded by the Czech Republic and Austria in the west, Poland in the north, Ukraine in the east and Hungary in the south Bratislava is the capital and largest city of Slovakia.
Slovakia became independent on 1st January 1993 from Czechoslovakia. It also became a member of the European Union (EU). It is most populous country and it has more than five million population.
Slovak is its official language, which is closely related to the Czech language. Slovakia is officially known as "Slovak Republic".

From the beginning, Slovakia had very much suffered to get its separate existence. Since 450 BC, Slovakia was dwelled by Celts. Silver coins with the names of Celtic Kings represent the first known use of writing in Slovakia.
In the 5th century, the Slavic people settled in the territory of Slovakia. In the 7th century, western Slovakia was the center of Samoa's Empire. A Proto-Slovak state arose in the 8th century. Together with Moravia the Proto-Slovak state which known as the Principality of Nitro formed the core of the Great Moravian Empire since 833.
After the fall of the Great Moravian Empire in the 10th century, Slovakia existed as part of Hungary in the 11th thorough to the 14th centuries.
After the Ottoman Empire started its expansion into Hungary in the early 16th century, the center of the kingdom of Hungary shifted towards Slovakia and Bratislava became its capital in 1536. But the Ottoman wars against the Habsburg Monarchy also inflicted a great deal of destruction.
During a revolution in 1848-49 the Slovaks supported the Austrian Emperor to get rid from the Hungarian part of the Austrian monarchy. But they failed in the end to achieve this purpose. During 1867 to 1918, the Slovaks experienced severe oppression in the form of Mogyarisation.
In 1918, Slovakia joined the regions of Bohemia and Moravia to form Czechoslovakia. During the chaos following the breakup of Austria-Hungary, a Slovak Soviet Republic was created during the Interwar period, democratic and prosperous Czechoslovakia was permanently threatened by revisionist governments of Germany and Hungary, until it was at last broken up by the Munich Agreement of 1938, when Slovakia became a separate state that would be controlled by Nazi Germany. But in 1945, it was reunited with the rest of Czechoslovakia. Form 1948 until 1989 Czechoslovakia was ruled by a Soviet-Style Communist regime.
In 1993 the country broke apart and Slovakia and the Czech Republic became independent Slovakia and the Czech Republic went their separate ways after January 1, 1993, an event called the Velvet Divorce.
Slovakia became a member of the European Union in May 2004.

Slovakia had greatly effort to change its centrally planned economy into modern market economy. The Slovak government succeeded to develop macroeconomic stabilization and structural reform. Major privatizations are completed, the banking sector is almost completely in foreign hands and foreign investment has picked up.
GDP: - In 2002, due to solid domestic demand, economic growth reached at the rate of 4.4%. According to the 2005 estimate, the GDP growth was around 5.7%, which was the highest rate from the Visegrad group. It is expected to reach at 6% in 2006 and 6.5% in 2007.
Unemployment: - Unemployment, rising from 14.4% at the end of 1998 to 19.2% at the end of 2001 during the radical reforms introduced by the Slovak government since 1999, decreased again to 11.8% in January 2006.
Inflation: - Inflation dropped from an average annual rate of 12.0% to just 3.3% in 2002, but in 2003-2004 it arose again.
Currency: - Slovakia plans to adopt the Euro currency on 1st January 2009 and has already entered the ERM for this aim.
Achievement: - Slovakia has been chosen as the best place for investment by more than 50% of German entrepreneurs.

Population: - The population of Slovakia is divided into three groups. Among them, the majority of the population is ethnically Slovak, who are about 86% of the population. The second group is a group of Hungarians. Hungarians are the largest ethnic minority, who are about 10% of the population. Third other group includes Roma, Czechs, Ruthenian, Ukrainians and Germans.
The country is divided into the three regions of western Slovakia, Central Slovakia and Eastern Slovakia. Most of Slovakia's about 6,00,000 Hungarians live in the southern parts of western and Central Slovakia. While the Ruthenian and Ukrainian minorities live in the northern regions of Eastern Slovakia. According to the 2005 estimate, the total population of Slovakia was 5,431,363. The population density in 2005 was 111 persons per sq km. Some 57% of the population lived in urban areas.
Religion: - The Slovak constitution guarantees freedom of religion. The majority of Slovak inhabitants are Roman Catholics, they are about 68.9%, the second largest group is people without confession, who are about 12.96%. About 6.93% follows Lutheranism and 4.1% are Greek Catholic, about 2% follows Calvinism, other and non-registered churches 1.1% Eastern Catholic and some 0.9% are Eastern orthodox. Religion plays a tremendous role in routine life in Slovakia.
Fertility Rate: - According to the 2004 estimate Slovakia had a fertility rate of 1.25, which is the lowest rate. Today, it is little increasing.

Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, which is closely related to the Czech language. Hungarian is also spoken in Slovakia. Moreover some other languages like Ukrainian, Romani and Czech are also spoken in Slovakia. But according to the law, which was passed in November 1995, Slovak is the only language that can be used in the civil service, on road signs and in advertisements.