President: Ivan Gasparovic Prime minister-elect: Robert Fico
Population
142,517,670
5,483,088
Life Expectancy
66.460 years
76.030 years
Capital City
Moscow
Bratislava
Largest city
Moscow (population: 10,381,200)
Bratislava (population: 423,737)
Human Development Index
NA
0.872
GDP per capita
$17,000 US
$23,600 US
Literacy Rate
99.4%
99.6%
Corruption Perception Index
2.1
5
Percentage of Women in Parliament
NA
19.3%
Wealthiest Citizens
Mikhail Prokhorov ($9.5bn US)
NA
Unemployment Rate
6.600%
13.500%
Death Penalty
Abolished in practice
Abolished
Political System
federation
parliamentary democracy
Independence date
24 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
1 January 1993 (Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia)
Religions
Russian Orthodox 15-20%, Muslim 10-15%, other Christian 2% (2006 est.) note: estimates are of practicing worshipers; Russia has large populations of non-practicing believers and non-believers, a legacy of over seven decades of Soviet rule
Roman Catholic 68.9%, Protestant 10.8%, Greek Catholic 4.1%, other or unspecified 3.2%, none 13% (2001 census)
Languages
Russian, many minority languages
Slovak (official) 83.9%, Hungarian 10.7%, Roma 1.8%, Ukrainian 1%, other or unspecified 2.6% (2001 census)
Exports
petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures
vehicles 25.9%, machinery and electrical equipment 21.3%, base metals 14.6%, chemicals and minerals 10.1%, plastics 5.4% (2004)
External Debt
$519,400,000,000 $
$72,940,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
Russian rubles (RUB) per US dollar - 24.3 (2008 est.), 25.659 (2007), 27.19 (2006), 28.284 (2005), 28.814 (2004)
Slovak koruny (SKK) per US dollar - 21.05 (2008 est.), 24.919 (2007), 29.611 (2006), 31.018 (2005), 32.257 (2004) note: on 1 January 2009 Slovakia adopted the euro as legal tender
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
3.900%
1.080%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
72
6
Location
Northern Asia (the area west of the Urals is considered part of Europe), bordering the Arctic Ocean, between Europe and the North Pacific Ocean
Central Europe, south of Poland
Area
17,098,242 km sq
49,035 km sq
Coastline
37,653 km
0 km
Climate
ranges from steppes in the south through humid continental in much of European Russia; subarctic in Siberia to tundra climate in the polar north; winters vary from cool along Black Sea coast to frigid in Siberia; summers vary from warm in the steppes to cool along Arctic coast
