ABSTRACT
Slovakia became an independent country on January 1, 1993, aer peaceful separating of Czechoslovakia into Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. It is located in Central Europe, bordering Hungary (677 km), Poland (444 km), Czech Republic (252 km), Ukraine (97 km), and Austria (91 km). ‰e total area of Slovakia is 49,035 km2. ‰e population is about 5.43 million people. Slovakia is a member state of the United Nations (1993), European Union (2004), and the European Economic and Monetary Union (2009), among others. ‰e oŽcial language is Slovak, very similar to the Czech language, both members of the Indo-European Slavic language family.
