The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20141117045228/https://www.stat.si/eng/novica_prikazi.aspx?id=4430
Kazalo spletne strani Zacetna stran Kontakt English version
 
 Demography and social statistics

provides data on population, its level of living, social security and health care, activity and lifestyle.
 

 Economy

combines data on production and service activities presenting the total economic activity.
 

 Environment and natural resources

are presented with data on agriculture and fishing, forestry and hunting, territory and climate, and with environment and energy indicators.
 

 General

presents geographic and administrative territorial breakdown of Slovenia as well as election statistics and information on activity of the Statistical Office.

SI-STAT Data Portal
provides a modern way of preparing and exporting data for selected categories.

Statistical Databank

contains predefined standard tables and offers the possibility of individual preparation of tables.
 
 

European Statistical Data
We provide user support to free-of-charge data disseminated by Eurostat web-site.

 
Methodology
Methodological explanations, Euro adoption
 
Classifications and Nomenclatures
A collection of classifications and nomenclatures for administrative data collections and for implementing tasks of national statistics.
 

Guide through statistics

Electronic reporting

Statistical Terminology

 
 
 


Migration, Slovenia, 1 January 2011 – final data

Friday, December 30, 2011, First Release
Dodaj ali deli...
Print version

Every ninth resident of Slovenia is an immigrant. Two thirds of foreign-born population are citizens of the Republic of Slovenia.

228,588 residents of Slovenia with foreign country of birth

On 1 January 2011 there were almost 229,000 people (11.1%) living in Slovenia with foreign country of birth. At the end of March 2002 when data on the country of birth for total population where for the first and last time collected by a conventional (field) census, the number was almost 170,000 (8.6%). The increase in the number of immigrants in the last decade is the consequence of:
  • Prosperous economic situation and increasing demand for labour force in some industries (e. g. construction) which was not available on the Slovenian labour market;
  • After accession of Slovenia to the European Union more immigrants moved to Slovenia from some new Member States;
  • Family reunion (secondary migration of family members of foreigners already living in Slovenia).

Migration flows to Slovenia are still to a large extent connected with the territory of former Yugoslavia

Immigration from abroad, mostly from republics of former Yugoslavia, was the deciding factor for demographic and socioeconomic development of Slovenia in the last fifty years. Also after independence of Slovenia the direction of migration flows between Slovenia and abroad did not change significantly. Migration topics remain closely connected with the territory of former Yugoslavia. Slovenia was and still is the destination country for numerous people from the territory of former Yugoslavia. The share of residents of Slovenia with countries of birth from the territory of former Yugoslavia among all foreign-born residents was 88.9% at the 2002 Census and on 1 January 2011 despite new migration flows from EU Member States and from non-European countries still 86.7%. Some characteristic migration processes with significant influence on recent distribution of countries of birth and relation among citizens and foreigners took place in the 1990s:
  • Acquisition of citizenship of the Republic of Slovenia by people legally residing in Slovenia (almost 10% of the population of Slovenia acquired citizenship in about half a year);
  • New economic migrants entering Slovenia from the less developed parts of former Yugoslavia (Kosovo, Macedonia);
  • A new type of immigrants with atypical demographic structure has emerged – the refugees from the war stricken regions, mostly from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Two thirds of foreign-born population are citizens of the Republic of Slovenia

Since the 2002 Census three new countries have been established in the territory of former Yugoslavia (Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo); therefore, the direct comparison for them is not possible. Despite that, we can see that recent immigration from Montenegro is negligible. 80% of the immigrant population in Slovenia born in Montenegro are Slovenian citizens. Bosnia and Herzegovina remains the most important country of origin in the last decade. 40% of persons with Bosnia and Herzegovina as the country of first residence live in Slovenia as foreigners. In comparison to the pre-independence period, immigration from Croatia decreased the most. Besides, the age structure of the population with Croatia as the country of birth (average age 55.7 years, which is 14 years more than average for the total population) differs a lot from other countries of birth. In addition, 87% of those are Slovenian citizens. On the other hand, new temporary economic migrants from Kosovo (average age 34.3 years) or Macedonia (39.4 years) are much younger and most of them are foreigners in Slovenia (only 22% of Kosovo born and one third of Macedonia born immigrants have citizenship of the Republic of Slovenia). Men prevail among Kosovo born immigrants (72%); among Bosnia and Herzegovina born foreigners the share of men is even 80%. Serbia as the third most important country of birth has dual migration characteristics: 69% of Serbia born residents are Slovenian citizens but recent immigration is very similar to the Kosovo situation (72% of foreigners from Serbia living in Slovenia are men).

Due to recent economic immigration after 2002 (temporary residence permits are time limited and also depend on work permits) and very demanding conditions for the acquisition of the citizenship of the Republic of Slovenia, the share of foreign-born population with Slovenian citizenship decreased from 80% at the 2002 Census to 65% in 2011.

Half of immigrants in Slovenia born outside Europe are citizens of the Republic of Slovenia

More than 21,000 immigrants in Slovenia were born in EU Member States, but 70% of them in only three countries (Germany, Austria and Italy) and 90% of them are citizens of the Republic of Slovenia. We can divide this population into three large groups:
  • Born during World War II as their mothers were exiled;
  • Second generation of Slovene-origin returning to the county of first residence of their parents;
  • Foreigners who moved to Slovenia after Slovenia’s accession to the EU.

Excluding countries of former Yugoslavia and EU Member States, more than 1,000 immigrants were born only in Ukraine, Russia and Switzerland.

Almost 5,000 Slovenian residents were born in 123 non-European countries, fewer than 5 residents in 49 of them. The most numerous are residents with first residence in China (784) but only 5% of them are citizens of the Republic of Slovenia. Persons born in some destination countries of Slovene emigration in the 20th century (Argentina, Canada and United States) are predominantly Slovenian citizens (82%).

Every fourth foreign-born resident lives in Ljubljana

The basic characteristic of spatial distribution of foreign-born population in Slovenia is distinctive concentration in a relatively small territory. Almost one quarter lives in Ljubljana, additional one third in ten other municipalities. The population of Italian origin in three of them (Koper/Capodistria, Izola/Isola and Piran/Pirano) was replaced already in the 1950s by immigrants from former Yugoslavia (at the beginning mostly from Croatia); later on immigration was conditional on economic attractiveness of the region. The remaining seven municipalities (Maribor, Kranj, Celje, Velenje, Jesenice, Novo mesto and Nova Gorica) were in the period of former Yugoslavia the centres of Slovenian industrialization with great demand for labour force which was not available in the local environment.

Among municipalities with at least 10,000 population only three (Šentjur, Šmarje pri Jelšah and Laško) host less than 5% of foreign-born population. Relatively high shares of foreign-born population (mostly from Croatia) live in some small municipalities along the Slovenian-Croatian border because of strong exchange of population living there before the independence of both countries (Osilnica, Kostel, Rogatec).

Table 1: Population by region/country of birth and sex, Slovenia, 1 january 2011
Total Men Women
Total 2,050,189 1,014,563 1,035,626
Slovenia 1,821,601 883,390 938,211
Foreign Countries 228,588 131,173 97,415
Europe 223,662 128,613 95,049
   • Countries of former Yugoslavia 198,242 116,651 81,591
   . . . Bosnia and Herzegovina 96,897 60,268 36,629
   . . . Montenegro 2,811 1,550 1,261
   . . . Croatia 49,158 24,159 24,999
   . . . Kosovo 9,350 6,706 2,644
   . . . Macedonija 13,658 8,564 5,094
   . . . Serbia 26,368 15,404 10,964
   • EU Member States 21,182 10,433 10,749
   • Other European countries 4,238 1,529 2,709
Non-European countries 4,926 2,560 2,366
   • Africa 540 346 194
   • South and Central America 979 406 573
   • North America 1,138 604 534
   • Asia 1,811 963 848
   • Oceania 458 241 217
Source: SORS
Table 2: Citizens of Slovenia and foreign citizens by region/country of birth and sex, Slovenia, 1 january 2011
Citizens of the RS Foreign citizens
total men women total men women
Total 1,967,443 955,866 1,011,577 82,746 58,697 24,049
Slovenia 1,818,063 881,494 936,569 3,538 1,896 1,642
Foreign Countries 149,380 74,372 75,008 79,208 56,801 22,407
Europe 146,790 73,000 73,790 76,872 55,613 21,259
   • Countries of former Yugoslavia 128,539 64,494 64,045 69,703 52,157 17,546
   . . . Bosnia and Herzegovina 58,165 29,477 28,688 38,732 30,791 7,941
   . . . Montenegro 2,255 1,232 1,023 556 318 238
   . . . Croatia 42,908 20,032 22,876 6,250 4,127 2,123
   . . . Kosovo 2,079 1,341 738 7,271 5,365 1,906
   . . . Macedonija 5,026 2,950 2,076 8,632 5,614 3,018
   . . . Serbia 18,106 9,462 8,644 8,262 5,942 2,320
   • EU Member States 16,289 7,698 8,591 4,893 2,735 2,158
   • Other European countries 1,962 808 1,154 2,276 721 1,555
Non-European countries 2,590 1,372 1,218 2,336 1,188 1,148
   • Africa 325 184 141 215 162 53
   • South and Central America 582 292 290 397 114 283
   • North America 890 462 428 248 142 106
   • Asia 407 239 168 1,404 724 680
   • Oceania 386 195 191 72 46 26
Source: SORS
Map 1: Population with foreign country of birth, municipalities, Slovenia, 1 January 2011
Map 1: Population with foreign country of birth, municipalities, Slovenia, 1 January 2011
Data access
More detailed data and time series are available at the SI-STAT data portal, which enables simple browsing and exporting of data into various formats. Registered users have the possibility to store tables for later browsing and to sign up to be informed when data are updated.

Linked content
Links to the detailed methodological explanations, detailed data in Si-Stat database and liks to other related topic can be found on the web sitehttp://www.stat.si/novica_poglej.asp?id=124.

Dodaj ali deli...
Register and receive news releases via e-mail (FREE)

 

Last 10 news in 'Population'

10/29/2014 Deaths, detailed data, Slovenia, 2013 - final data
10/29/2014 Demographic events, Slovenia, 2nd quarter 2014 – provisional data
10/29/2014 Population, Slovenia, 1 July 2014 – final data
10/28/2014 Births, detailed data, Slovenia, 2013 - final data
10/10/2014 Marriages and divorces, detailed data, Slovenia, 2013 - final data
9/26/2014 First names and family names, birthdays, Slovenia, 1 January 2014 - final data
9/26/2014 International Day of Older Persons 2014
9/26/2014 Population by marital status, detailed data, Slovenia, 1 January 2014 – final data
8/12/2014 International Youth Day 2014
7/30/2014 Demographic events, Slovenia, 1st quarter 2014 – provisional data

» Other recent news in 'Population'
» Other recent news
 
 
About authors
© Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.
Use and publication of data is allowed provided the source is acknowledged.