Migration, Slovenia, 1 January 2011 – final data

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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).